Search for narrow high-mass resonances in proton–proton collisions at s=8 TeV decaying to a Z and a Higgs boson

• Main Authors: V. Khachatryan, A.M. Sirunyan, A. Tumasyan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2015-09-01
• Series: Physics Letters B
• Subjects: CMS; Physics; Resonance production; Jets; Tau leptons; Boosted topology
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315005213
• ISSN: 0370-2693; 1873-2445

A search for a narrow, high-mass resonance decaying into Z and Higgs (H) bosons is presented. The final state studied consists of a merged jet pair and a τ pair resulting from the decays of Z and H bosons, respectively. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, collected with the CMS experiment in 2012, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb−1. In the resonance mass range of interest, which extends from 0.8 to 2.5 TeV, the Z and H bosons are produced with large momenta, which implies that the final products of the two quarks or the two τ leptons must be detected within a small angular interval. From a combination of all possible decay modes of the τ leptons, production cross sections in a range between 0.9 and 27.8 fb are excluded at 95% confidence level, depending on the resonance mass.