Abstract
Abstract:
A search for a heavy neutral Higgs boson, A, decaying into a Z boson and another heavy
Higgs boson, H, is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1
fb−1 from proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 by the
ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search considers the Z boson decaying to electrons
or muons and the H boson into a pair of b-quarks. No evidence for the production of an A boson is
found. Considering each production process separately, the 95% confidence- level upper limits on
the pp → A → Z H production cross-section times the branching ratio H → bb are in the range of
14–830 fb for the gluon–gluon fusion process and 26–570 fb for the b-associated process for the
mass ranges 130–700 GeV of the H boson and 230–800 GeV of the A boson. The results are interpreted
in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models.