Search for heavy resonances in vector boson fusion

Guangyi Zhang,Y Foka,V Kovalenko,N Brambilla

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201713708016

Abstract

If the Higgs boson discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is not exactly the one in the Standard Model, an alternative mechanism is needed to restore unitarity in the scattering amplitude of longitudinal gauge bosons, and new resonances may appear. This paper presents a search for new heavy neutral resonances (R) produced through vector boson fusion process (l = e , μ ) using 3.2 fb−1 of data at √s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the production of five types of neutral resonances with different spin and isospin quantum numbers using a K-matrix unitarization of the vector boson scattering process.

Highlights

The process of vector boson scattering can be sensitive to phenomena beyond the Standard Model (SM), in particular the presence of diboson resonances and anomalous quartic couplings
Cross sections and branching ratios of the 125 GeV scalar boson discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presently compatible with those predicted for the SM Higgs boson
A search is performed for the first time for neutral resonances above the Higgs boson mass produced by the qq → Rqq → +ν −νqq ( = e, μ) fusion process, taking into account interference with the SM production process of the same final state

Summary

Introduction

The process of vector boson scattering can be sensitive to phenomena beyond the Standard Model (SM), in particular the presence of diboson resonances and anomalous quartic couplings. If the values of the Higgs coupling to the vector bosons do not take the exact values predicted by the SM, an alternative mechanism is needed to restore unitarity in the scattering amplitude of longitudinal gauge bosons, and new resonances may appear [8,9,10,11]. If these resonances have weak or no coupling to fermions, vector boson scattering processes could provide the best sensitivity to these resonance searches at the LHC. The method and results of this analysis are referenced from this ATLAS conference note [17]

Data and Simulated Events

Object and Event Selection

Background

Results

Conclusion