Speaker
Jose Miguel No
(IFT-UAM/CSIC)
Description
We study exotic Higgs decays $h \to Z X$, with $X$ an invisible BSM particle, resulting in a semi-dark final state. Such exotic Higgs decays may occur in theories of axion-like-particles (ALPs), dark photons or pseudoscalar mediators between the SM and dark matter. The SM process $h\to Z\nu\bar{\nu}$ represents an irreducible ``Higgs neutrino floor'' background to these new physics searches, providing also a target experimental sensitivity for them. We analyze $h \to Z X$, $X \to E^{\mathrm{miss}}_T$ searches at the LHC and a future ILC, showing that these exotic Higgs decays can yield sensitivity to unexplored regions of parameter space for ALPs and dark matter models.
Author
Jose Miguel No
(IFT-UAM/CSIC)
