Discovering nonstandard Higgs bosons in the H → ZA channel decay to multileptons

bstract In this article we consider the possibility of observing nonstandard Higgs bosons in the H → ZA → Zτ + τ − channel. We present three benchmark scenarios in the NMSSM where H → ZA is the dominant decay mode for one of the nonstandard Higgs bosons while the lightest CP-even Higgs is Standard Model like. Using the latest CMS multilepton analysis based on 7 TeV LHC data, we put limits on the signal cross-section, which constrain leptophilic scenarios. Projecting to future LHC analyses with improvements in background modeling, we show that with O (30) fb −1 of data, such a multilepton analysis is very close to constraining our NMSSM benchmarks. As we illustrate with a toy model, for light A masses, the large boost of the A makes it inefficient to select two hadronic taus, since isolation and the transverse momenta are in tension. This efficiency could be improved by including boosted di-tau jets as an object in future multilepton analyses. We also discuss different methods to confirm this scenario by reconstruction of the m H and m A masses. In particular we consider the transverse mass distribution, collinear mass distribution and an analytical solution using trial masses.