The mono-Higgs + MET signal at the Large Hadron Collider: a study on the $\gamma \gamma$ and $b\bar{b}$ final states

Abstract

We investigate the potential of the channel {\em mono-Higgs + MET} in yielding signals of dark mater at the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC). As illustration, a scalar dark matter in a Higgs portal scenario has been chosen, whose phenomenological viability has been ensured by postulating the existence of dimension-6 operators that enable cancellation in certain amplitudes for elastic scattering of dark matter in direct search experiments. These operators are found to have non-negligible contribution to the mono-Higgs signal. Thereafter, we carry out a detailed analysis of this signal, with the accompanying MET providing a useful handle in suppressing backgrounds. Signals for the Higgs decaying into both the diphoton and $b\bar{b}$ channels have been studied. A cut-based simulation is presented first, followed by a demonstration of how the statistical significance can be improved through analyses based on Boosted Decision Trees and Artificial Neural Network. The improvement is found to be especially noticeable for the $b\bar{b}$ channel.

Comments: 32 pages, 34 figures