Search for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to $b\bar{b}$ in the flipped 2HDM at future $e^-e^+$ linear colliders

Abstract

In this study, assuming the Type-Y (flipped) 2HDM at the SM-like scenario as the theoretical framework, observability of the additional heavy neutral Higgs bosons $H$ and $A$ is investigated through the signal process chain $e^- e^+ \rightarrow AH \rightarrow b\bar{b}b\bar{b}$ at a linear collider operating at the center-of-mass energy of 1.5 TeV. The assumed signal process is highly motivated by the enhancements in the $A/H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decays at relatively high $\tb$ values. Such enhancements result in the dominance of the mentioned decay modes even for Higgs masses above the threshold of the on-shell top quark pair production. Taking advantage of such a unique feature, several benchmark scenarios are studied. Simulating the detector response based on the SiD detector at the ILC, simulated events are analyzed to reconstruct the $H$ and $A$ Higgs bosons. The top quark pair production and $Z/γ$ production are the main SM background processes and are well under control. Results indicate that, the $H$ and $A$ Higgs bosons are observable with signals exceeding $5σ$ with possibility of mass measurement in all the tested scenarios. Specifically, the parameter space region enclosed with the mass ranges $m_H$=150-500 GeV and $m_A$=230-580 GeV with the $A/H$ mass splitting of 80 GeV is observable at the integrated luminosity of 500 $fb^{-1}$.