Search for a resonance decaying into a scalar particle and a Higgs boson in the final state with two bottom quarks and two photons with 199 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected at $\sqrt{s}$=13 and 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A search for the resonant production of a heavy scalar $X$ decaying into a lighter scalar $S$ and a Higgs boson, through the process $X \rightarrow S (\rightarrow b \bar{b})H ( \rightarrow \gamma\gamma)$, where the two photons are consistent with the Higgs boson decay, is performed. The search is conducted using integrated luminosities of 140 and 59 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 13 and 13.6 TeV, respectively, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed over the mass ranges of 170 $\leq$ $m_{X}$ $\leq$ 1000 GeV and 15 $\leq$ $m_{S}$ $\leq$ 500 GeV. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed and limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction for the process $X \rightarrow S (\rightarrow b \bar{b})H ( \rightarrow \gamma\gamma)$ at 13 TeV, ranging from 9 fb to 0.06 fb.