Can we discover a light singlet-like NMSSM Higgs boson at the LHC?

Abstract

In the next-to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) one additional singlet-like Higgs boson with small couplings to standard model (SM) particles is introduced. Although the mass can be well below the discovered 125 GeV Higgs boson mass its small couplings may make a discovery at the LHC difficult. We use a novel scanning technique to efficiently scan the whole parameter space and determine the range of cross sections and branching ratios for the light singlet-like Higgs boson below 125 GeV. This allows to determine the perspectives for the future discovery potential at the LHC. Specific LHC benchmark points are selected representing the salient NMSSM features.

Comments: 22 pages, 5 figures, this version is accepted by PLB after minor modifications