Modified Higgs boson phenomenology from gauge or gaugino mediation in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model

Abstract

In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the presence of light pseudoscalars can have a dramatic effect on the decays of the Standard Modellike Higgs boson. These pseudoscalars are naturally light if supersymmetry breaking preserves an approximate U (1) R symmetry, spontaneously broken when the Higgs bosons take on their expectation values. We investigate two classes of theories that possess such an approximate U (1) R at the mediation scale: deformations of gauge and gaugino mediation. In the models we consider, we find two disjoint classes of phenomenologically allowed parameter regions. One of these regions corresponds to a limit where the singlet of the NMSSM largely decouples. The other can give rise to a Standard Model-like Higgs boson with a dominant branching into light pseudoscalars.

Exotic decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson

“…The R-symmetry limit is realized for A λ ; A κ → 0 [71,192,193], defined by the scalar field transformations…”

Search for the Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson and decaying into two spin-zero particles in the H → aa → 4b channel in pp collisions at $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

“…The Higgs boson has been proposed as a possible "portal" for hidden-sector particles to interact with SM particles [6][7][8]. Exotic decays in particular are predicted by many BSM theories [9], including those with an extended Higgs sector such as the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) [10][11][12][13][14], models with a first-order electroweak phase transition [15,16], models with neutral naturalness [17][18][19] and models of dark matter [20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…Measurements at the LHC are in agreement with SM predictions, constraining the non-SM branching ratio of the Higgs boson to less than approximately 30% at 95% confidence level (CL) using the 7 and 8 TeV datasets [3][4][5].Despite this experimental triumph, there is still ample room for exotic Higgs boson decays compatible with observations to date.The Higgs boson has been proposed as a possible "portal" for hidden-sector particles to interact with SM particles [6][7][8]. Exotic decays in particular are predicted by many BSM theories [9], including those with an extended Higgs sector such as the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) [10][11][12][13][14], models with a first-order electroweak phase transition [15,16], models with neutral naturalness [17][18][19] and models of dark matter [20][21][22][23][24].The decay of the Higgs boson into a pair of spin-zero particles a, which in turn decay into a pair of SM particles, arises in several scenarios of new physics [9]. In particular, if the a-boson mixes with the Higgs boson and inherits its Yukawa couplings, decays of the type a → bb are expected to be dominant for m a > 2m b .…”

Decays of a NMSSM CP-odd Higgs in the low-mass region

“…The possibility of a light CP-odd NMSSM state -with mass 10 GeV -thus appeared in the pre-LHC era as a phenomenologically appealing and realistic scenario: see e.g. [7][8][9][10]. Nevertheless, limits from low-energy observables, e.g.…”