Search for resonant and non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in the ${b\bar{b}\tau^+\tau^-}$ decay channel in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for resonant and nonresonant pair production of Higgs bosons in the bb¯τ+τ- final state is presented. The search uses 36.1  fb-1 of pp collision data with s=13  TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. Decays of the τ-lepton pairs with at least one τ lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino are considered. No significant excess above the expected background is observed in the data. The cross-section times branching ratio for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production is constrained to be less than 30.9 fb, 12.7 times the standard model expectation, at 95% confidence level. The data are also analyzed to probe resonant Higgs boson pair production, constraining a model with an extended Higgs sector based on two doublets and a Randall-Sundrum bulk graviton model. Upper limits are placed on the resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section times branching ratio, excluding resonances X in the mass range 305  GeV

Keywords:

• Pair production
• Physics
• Lepton
• Particle physics
• Higgs boson
• Boson
• Standard Model
• Large Hadron Collider
• ATLAS experiment
• Higgs sector

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