Abstract
Abstract:
A search for resonant and non-resonant 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. The semileptonic and fully hadronic decays of
the τ-lepton pair are considered. No significant excess above the expected background is observed
in the data. The cross-section times branching ratio for non-resonant 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 < mX < 402 GeV in the
simplified hMSSM minimal supersymmetric model for tan β = 2 and excluding bulk Randall–Sundrum
gravitons GKK in the mass range 325 GeV < mGKK < 885 GeV for k/MPl = 1.