OnlineLectures

ASP Online Seminars: Search for invisible Higgs bosons produced via vector boson fusion at the LHC using the ATLAS detector

by Mohamed Zaazoua (Université Mohammed V (MA))

UTC
Description

Abstract:

A variety of astrophysical observations showed direct evidence for the existence of dark matter which accounts for about 85% of matter in the universe and does not interact with ordinary matter, except through gravity. Despite its abundance, dark matter particles are very elusive and hard to spot and no experiment confirmed their existence. Many studies are in hunt for these elusive dark matter particles, using different techniques and technologies either via direct detection investigations (i.e: PandaX, Xenon, DarkSide, etc.) or colliders searches like the LHC, which is exploiting the high discovery potential of its detectors like ATLAS and CMS.


In this work the invisible Higgs sector was investigated where Higgs bosons are produced via the vector boson fusion (VBF) process and subsequently decay into invisible particles. The expectation for the branching fraction of invisible decays from the standard model is O(0:1)% but several scenarios beyond the standard model allow larger values of O(10)%. The hypothesis under consideration is that the Higgs boson might decay into a pair of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) which are candidates to explain the existence of dark matter. The experimental signature in the detector is a pair of energetic jets and large missing energy. The analysis uses data samples of an integrated luminosity of 139 fb^-1 of proton proton collisions at 13 TeV recorded by ATLAS detector at the LHC. The observed number of events are found to be in agreement with the background expectation from standard model processes. Assuming a 125 GeV Higgs boson with a standard model production cross section, the observed and expected upper limits on the branching fraction of its decay into invisible particles are found to be 0.13 at 95% confidence level.

Organised by

IOC
Mohamed Zaazoua (ASP2020 Alumnus)

Participants
  • Abdessamad Belfakir
  • Asmaa Aboulhorma
  • Diallo Boye
  • Farida Fassi
  • Jaouad El Falaki
  • Jesutofunmi Fajemisin
  • Kayode DADA
  • Ketevi Adikle Assamagan
  • Matt Connell
  • Mohamed Zaazoua
  • Mohammed Boukidi
  • Mounia Laassiri
  • Phineas Ntsoele
  • Sanae Ezzarqtouni
  • Xola Mapekula
  • Yassine El Ghazali
  • Zainab Soumaimi
Videoconference
Zoom Meeting ID
92372698210
Host
Ketevi Adikle Assamagan
Useful links
Join via phone
Zoom URL