A search is performed for dark matter produced in association with bottom quarks and a pair of electrons or muons in data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 138 fb−1 of integrated luminosity of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. For the first time at the LHC, the associated production of a bottom quark-antiquark pair and a new heavy neutral Higgs boson (H) that subsequently decays into a leptonically decaying Z boson and a pseudoscalar (a) is explored. The latter acts as a dark matter mediator in the context of the two Higgs doublet model plus a pseudoscalar (2HDM+a). Multivariate techniques that target a wide range of mass configurations for the H and a particles are used. The observations are consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction of the new particles, ranging from 10−2 pb for an H mass of 400 GeV to 10−3 pb for an H mass of 2000 GeV. Constraints on the parameter space of a benchmark 2HDM+a model are derived and compared with expectations in the context of cosmological predictions.

Search for dark matter production in association with bottom quarks and a lepton pair in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Alexe, C.;Bruschini, D.;Ligabue, F.;
2026

Abstract

A search is performed for dark matter produced in association with bottom quarks and a pair of electrons or muons in data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 138 fb−1 of integrated luminosity of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. For the first time at the LHC, the associated production of a bottom quark-antiquark pair and a new heavy neutral Higgs boson (H) that subsequently decays into a leptonically decaying Z boson and a pseudoscalar (a) is explored. The latter acts as a dark matter mediator in the context of the two Higgs doublet model plus a pseudoscalar (2HDM+a). Multivariate techniques that target a wide range of mass configurations for the H and a particles are used. The observations are consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction of the new particles, ranging from 10−2 pb for an H mass of 400 GeV to 10−3 pb for an H mass of 2000 GeV. Constraints on the parameter space of a benchmark 2HDM+a model are derived and compared with expectations in the context of cosmological predictions.
Search for dark matter production in association with bottom quarks and a lepton pair in proton-proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV
2026
Settore PHYS-01/A - Fisica sperimentale delle interazioni fondamentali e applicazioni
Beyond Standard Model; Dark Matter; Hadron-Hadron Scattering
   The strong interaction at the frontier of knowledge: fundamental research and applications
   STRONG-2020
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - Research and Innovation action
   824093

   International Training Network for Statistics in High Energy Physics and Society
   INSIGHTS
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Training Networks
   765710

   Fundamental properties and time-scan of QCD matter at high densities and temperature exposed by jet substructure in heavy ion collisions with CMS experiment at the LHC
   QCDHighDensityCMS
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Research Council - Consolidator Grant
   101002207

   INnovative TRiggEr techniques for beyond the standard model PhysIcs Discovery at the LHC
   INTREPID
   European Commission
   Horizon Europe Framework Programme - European Research Council - HORIZON ERC Grants
   101115353

   Majorana neutrino discovery strategy with CMS
   MajorNet
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Research Council - Starting Grant
   758316

   Direct and indirect searches for new physics in events with top quarks using LHC proton-proton collisions at the CMS detector
   LHCTOPVLQ
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - Standard European Fellowships
   752730

   Search for Higgs bosons decaying to charm quarks
   HIGCC
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Research Council - Consolidator Grant
   724704

   Advanced Multi-Variate Analysis for New Physics Searches at the LHC
   AMVA4NewPhysics
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Training Networks
   675440

   Power to the LHC data: an ASYmptotically MOdel-independent measurement of the W boson mass
   ASYMOW
   European Commission
   Horizon 2020 Framework Programme - European Research Council - Consolidator Grant
   101001205

   Future Artificial Intelligence Research
   FAIR
   MUR
   PNRR
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/170810
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