Search for exotic Higgs boson decays H $\to$ $\mathcal{AA}$ $\to$ 4$\gamma$ with events containing two merged diphotons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

Abstract

We present the first direct search for exotic Higgs boson decays H $\to$ $\mathcal{AA}$, $\mathcal{A}$ $\to$ $\gamma \gamma$ in events with two photonlike objects. The hypothetical particle $\mathcal{A}$ is a low-mass spin-0 particle decaying promptly to a merged diphoton reconstructed as a single photonlike object. We analyze the data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 136 fb${}^{-1}$. No excess above the estimated background is found. We set upper limits on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ $\mathcal{AA}$ $\to$ 4$\gamma$) of (0.9-3.3) $\times$ 10${}^{-3}$ at 95% confidence level for masses of $\mathcal{A}$ in the range 0.1-1.2 GeV.

arXiv commentReplaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/HIG-21-016 (CMS Public Pages)

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