

A search for Higgs boson pair production in events with two b-jets and two τ-leptons is presented, using a proton–proton collision dataset with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected at s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Higgs boson pairs produced non-resonantly or in the decay of a narrow scalar resonance in the mass range from 251 to 1600 GeV are targeted. Events in which at least one τ-lepton decays hadronically are considered, and multivariate discriminants are used to reject the backgrounds. No significant excess of events above the expected background is observed in the non-resonant search. The largest excess in the resonant search is observed at a resonance mass of 1 TeV, with a local (global) significance of 3.1σ (2.0σ). Observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits are set on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair-production cross-section at 4.7 (3.9) times the Standard Model prediction, assuming Standard Model kinematics, and on the resonant Higgs boson pair-production cross-section at between 21 and 900 fb (12 and 840 fb), depending on the mass of the narrow scalar resonance. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2023, The Author(s).
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Agence Nationale de la Recherche See opportunities by ANR | ANR | |
| Australian Research Council See opportunities by ARC | ARC | |
| Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique | CNRST | |
| Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia See opportunities by FCT | FCT | |
| National Stroke Foundation | NSF | |
| Narodowe Centrum Nauki | NCN | |
| National Science Foundation See opportunities by NSF | NSF | |
| Science and Technology Facilities Council See opportunities by STFC | STFC | |
| H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions See opportunities by MSCA | MSCA | |
| Japan Society for the Promotion of Science See opportunities by KAKEN | KAKEN | |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | NWO | |
| Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | MICINN | |
| Israel Science Foundation | ISF | |
| Leverhulme Trust See opportunities | ||
| Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation | SBFI | |
| Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS | ARRS | |
| Generalitat de Catalunya | ||
| Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare | INFN | |
| Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft | BMWFW | |
| Austrian Science Fund | FWF | |
| Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej | NAWA | |
| Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo | ANID | |
| Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | BMBF | |
| Canada Foundation for Innovation | CFI | |
| Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft See opportunities by HGF | HGF | |
| Danmarks Grundforskningsfond | DNRF | |
| Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico | CNPq | |
| Canarie | ||
| Göran Gustafssons Stiftelser | ||
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft See opportunities by DFG | DFG | |
| Neurosurgical Research Foundation | NRF | |
| Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja | MPNTR | |
| U.S. Department of Energy See opportunities by USDOE | USDOE | |
| European Cooperation in Science and Technology | COST | |
| Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo See opportunities by FAPESP | FAPESP | |
| Institutul de Fizică Atomică | IFA | |
| Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China | MOST | |
| Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada See opportunities by NSERC | NSERC | |
| Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases, Weizmann Institute of Science | ||
| Irish Rugby Football Union | IRFU | |
| Chinese Academy of Sciences | CAS | |
| Defence Science Institute | DSI | |
| Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung See opportunities by SNF | SNF | |
| Compute Canada | ||
| Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica | ANPCyT | |
| Minerva Foundation | ||
| European Research Council | ERC | |
| Royal Society of South Australia | RSSA | |
| European Regional Development Fund | ERDF | |
| CERN | ||
| Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy | MŠMT | |
| National Research Council Canada See opportunities by NRC | NRC | |
| Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung See opportunities by AvH | AvH | |
| Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation | MSSRF | |
| Horizon 2020 | ||
| British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund | BCKDF | |
| Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | MEXT | |
| National Natural Science Foundation of China | NSFC | |
| IN2P3-CNRS | ||
| CRC Health Group | 21/SCI/017 | CRC |
| CRC Health Group | CRC | |
| SCI/013 | ||
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | 714893,754510 | H2020 |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | H2020 | |
| 2014-2021 |
We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Armenia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azerbaijan; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; ANID, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; Minciencias, Colombia; MEYS CR, Czech Republic; DNRF and DNSRC, Denmark; IN2P3-CNRS and CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, HGF and MPG, Germany; GSRI, Greece; RGC and Hong Kong SAR, China; ISF and Benoziyo Center, Israel; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, Netherlands; RCN, Norway; MEiN, Poland; FCT, Portugal; MNE/IFA, Romania; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZ\u0160, Slovenia; DSI/NRF, South Africa; MICINN, Spain; SRC and Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; SERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; MOST, Taiwan; TENMAK, T\u00FCrkiye; STFC, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, United States of America. In addition, individual groups and members have received support from BCKDF, CANARIE, Compute Canada and CRC, Canada; PRIMUS 21/SCI/017 and UNCE SCI/013, Czech Republic; COST, ERC, ERDF, Horizon 2020 and Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions, European Union; Investissements d\u2019Avenir Labex, Investissements d\u2019Avenir Idex and ANR, France; DFG and AvH Foundation, Germany; Herakleitos, Thales and Aristeia programmes co-financed by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF and MINERVA, Israel; Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, Norway; NCN and NAWA, Poland; La Caixa Banking Foundation, CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya and PROMETEO and GenT Programmes Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; G\u00F6ran Gustafssons Stiftelse, Sweden; The Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom.
© Copyright 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.