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arXiv · 1705.05757

Impact of CP-violating interference effects on MSSM Higgs searches

Abstract

Interference and mixing effects between neutral Higgs bosons in the MSSM with complex parameters are shown to have a significant impact on the interpretation of LHC searches for additional Higgs bosons. Complex MSSM parameters introduce mixing between the CP-even and CP-odd Higgs states and generate CP-violating interference terms. Both effects are enhanced in the case of almost degenerate states. Employing as an example an extension of a frequently used benchmark scenario by a non-zero phase $ϕ_{A_t}$, the interference contributions are obtained for the production of neutral Higgs bosons in gluon-fusion and in association with b-quarks followed by the decay into a pair of $τ$-leptons. While the resonant mixing increases the individual cross sections for the two heavy Higgs bosons $h_2$ and $h_3$, strongly destructive interference effects between the contributions involving $h_2$ and $h_3$ leave a considerable parameter region unexcluded that would appear to be ruled out if the interference effects were neglected.

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Elina Fuchs, Georg Weiglein. 2017-05-16. Impact of CP-violating interference effects on MSSM Higgs searches. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc%2Fs10052-018-5543-4

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