Search For Associated Production Of Dark Matter With A Higgs Boson Decaying To Bbarb Or Gammagamma At Sqrts

A search for dark matter is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying either to a pair of bottom quarks or to a pair of photons. The data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse-femtobarns. Results are interpreted in the context of a Z'-two-Higgs-doublet model, where a high-mass resonance Z' decays into a pseudoscalar boson A and a CP-even scalar Higgs boson, and the A decays to a pair of dark matter particles. No significant excesses are observed over the background prediction. Combining results from the two decay channels yields exclusion limits in the signal cross section in the m[Z']-m[A] phase space. The observed data exclude, for Z' coupling strength g[Z'] = 0.8 and m[A] = 300 GeV for example, the Z' mass range of 600 to 1860 GeV. This is the first result on a search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson that includes constraints on h to gamma-gamma obtained at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV.

Using 3.2 fb^-1 of sqrt(s) =13TeV proton-proton data collected in 2015 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, new limits were imposed on the associated production of Dark Matter with a 125GeV Higgs boson which decays into a pair of b-quarks. The final state of the signal is a pair of b-quark jets and large Missing Transverse Momentum attributed to the DM escaping the detector. The dominant backgrounds were simulated. These were subject to selection requirements to increase signal to background ratio. Three regions were designated based on the number of leptons in the event. 0 lepton events made up the signal region. Events with 1 and 2 leptons were control regions. Similar selection requirements were applied to the control regions as in the signal region, in order to examine a similar phase space. A blinding region was established in the 0 lepton region over the mbb distribution to mask where a reconstructed 125GeV Higgs boson would appear. The control regions and the side bands in the signal region were then fit to the mbb data distribution. Unblinding of the signal region did not result in the discovery of the decay channel, but allowed limits to be imposed.

This thesis reports on the search for dark matter in data taken with the ATLAS detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The identification of dark matter and the determination of its properties are among the highest priorities in elementary particle physics and cosmology. The most likely candidate, a weakly interacting massive particle, could be produced in the high energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis presented here is unique in looking for dark matter produced together with a Higgs boson that decays into its dominant decay mode, a pair of b quarks. If dark matter were seen in this mode, we would learn directly about the production mechanism because of the presence of the Higgs boson. This thesis develops the search technique and presents the most stringent production limit to date.

This study reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using data from 20.3 fb–1 of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum bb¯ system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent upper limits are placed on the visible cross sections for events with a Higgs boson decaying into bb¯ and large missing transverse momentum with thresholds ranging from 150 to 400 GeV. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z' gauge boson decaying into different Higgs bosons predicted in a two-Higgs-doublet model, of which the heavy pseudoscalar Higgs decays into a pair of dark matter particles. Exclusion limits are also presented for the mass scales of various effective field theory operators that describe the interaction between dark matter particles and the Higgs boson.