We consider extensions of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model (NMSSM) in which the observed neutrino masses are described in terms of effective dimension six (or seven) rather than dimension five operators. All such operators respect the discrete symmetries of the model. The new particles associated with the double (or triple) seesaw mechanism can have sizable couplings to the known leptons, even with a TeV seesaw scale. In the latter case some of these new short-lived particles could be produced and detected at the LHC.
We consider extensions of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model (NMSSM) in which the observed neutrino masses are generated through a TeV scale inverse seesaw mechanism. The new particles associated with this mechanism can have sizable couplings to the Higgs field which can yield a large contribution to the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson. With this new contribution, a 126 GeV Higgs is possible along with order of 200 GeV masses for the stop quarks for a broad range of \tanβ. The Higgs production and decay in the diphoton channel can be enhanced due to this new contribution. It is …
We propose to accommodate economically the type-II neutrino seesaw mechanism in (G)NMSSM from GMSB and AMSB, respectively. The heavy triplets within neutrino seesaw mechanism are identified to be the messengers. Therefore, the $μ$-problem, the neutrino mass generation, LFV as well the soft SUSY breaking parameters can be economically combined in a non-trivial way. General features of such extensions are discussed. The type-II neutrino seesaw-specific interactions can give additional Yukawa deflection contributions to the soft SUSY breaking parameters of NMSSM, which are indispensable to realiz…
The new results on the muon anomalous magnetic moment (AMM) published by Fermilab in 2021, did not lead to a reduction of its long-pending deviation from the Standard Model (SM) value by more than 4$σ$. The explanation of this discrepancy by adding new particles to the theory puts many new physics models under tension when combined with the null results of the LHC direct searches for new particles. In this paper, we investigate the CP-violating Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the SM (NMSSM) with and without an inverse seesaw mechanism. We compute the one-loop supersymmetric contrib…
In supersymmetric theories like the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the lightest neutralino with bino or singlino as its dominant component is customarily taken as dark matter (DM) candidate. Since light Higgsinos favored by naturalness can strength the couplings of the DM and thus enhance the DM-nucleon scattering rate, the tension between naturalness and DM direct detection results becomes more and more acute with the improved experimental sensitivity. In this work, we extend the NMSSM by inverse seesaw mechanism to generate neutrino mass, and show that in certain para…
In this study, we work in the framework of the Next-to-Minimal extension of the Standard Model (NMSSM) extended by six singlet leptonic superfields. Through the mixing with the three doublet leptonic superfields, the non-zero tiny neutrino masses can be generated through the inverse seesaw mechanism. While $R$-parity is conserved in this model lepton number is explicitly violated. We quantify the impact of the extended neutrino sector on the NMSSM Higgs sector by computing the complete one-loop corrections with full momentum dependence to the Higgs boson masses in a mixed on-shell-$\overline{\…
The recently improved observation of the fine structure constant has led to a negative $2.4σ$ anomaly of electron $g-2$. Combined with the long-existing positive $4.2σ$ discrepancy of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, it is interesting and difficult to explain these two anomalies with a consistent model without introducing flavor violations. We show that they can be simultaneously explained in the inverse seesaw extended next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (ISS-NMSSM) by the Higgsino--sneutrino contributions to $(g-2)_e$ and $(g-2)_μ$. The spectrum features prefer light $μ$, which …
The Next-to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with a Type-I seesaw mechanism extends the NMSSM by three generations of right-handed neutrino fields to generate neutrino mass. As a byproduct it renders the lightest sneutrino as a viable DM candidate. Due to the gauge singlet nature of the DM, its scattering with nucleon is suppressed in most cases to coincide spontaneously with the latest XENON-1T results. Consequently, broad parameter spaces in the Higgs sector, especially a light Higgsino mass, are resurrected as experimentally allowed, which makes the theory well suited to explai…
In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with the inverse seesaw mechanism to generate neutrino masses, the lightest sneutrino may act as a feasible dark matter candidate in vast parameter space. In this case, the smallness of the leptonic unitarity violation and the recent XENON-1T experiment can limit the dark matter physics. In particular, they set upper bounds of the neutrino Yukawa couplings $λ_ν$ and $Y_ν$. We study such effects by encoding the constraints in a likelihood function and carrying out elaborated scans over the parameter space of the theory with the Nested Samplin…
In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with extra heavy neutrino superfields, neutrino may acquire its mass via a seesaw mechanism and sneutrino may act as a viable dark matter (DM) candidate. Given the strong tension between the naturalness for $Z$ boson mass and the DM direct detection experiments for customary neutralino DM candidate, we augment the NMSSM with Type-I seesaw mechanism, which is the simplest extension of the theory to predict neutrino mass, and study the scenarios of sneutrino DM. We construct likelihood function with LHC Higgs data, B-physics measuremen…
The present work investigates the possibility that both dark matter and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon may be explained within the context of the inverse seesaw extended Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (ISS-NMSSM). In ISS-NMSSM, the newly introduced Higgs-neutrino Yukawa coupling $Y_ν$ provides additional Higgsino-sneutrino loop contribution to $(g-2)_μ$. If the deviation between the experimental observations and the Standard Model predictions of the anomalous muon magnetic moment is confirmed by the further experimental and theoretical studies, it can be explained nat…
We suggest an NMSSM scenario, motivated by dark matter constraints, that may disguise itself as a much simpler mSUGRA scenario at the LHC. We show how its non-minimal nature can be revealed, and the bino--singlino mass difference measured, by looking for soft leptons.
In this paper we examine the LHC discovery potential of the lightest CP-odd Higgs boson, a1, of the NMSSM produced in gluon fusion channel gg->a1. We evaluate the inclusive signal rates of the a1 for a variety of decay channels and discuss its possible discovery. It is observed that the overall production and decay rates at inclusive level are quite sizable and should help extracting the a1 signal over some regions of the NMSSM parameter space.
We study here the di-muon decay mode of a very light CP-odd Higgs boson of the NMSSM, a1, produced in association with a bottom-antibottom pair and find that, despite small event rates, a significant signal should be extractable from the SM background at the LHC with high luminosity.
We study the detectability of the lightest CP-odd Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, at the LHC through its production in association with a bottom-quark pair followed by the $a_1\to b\bar b$ decay. It is shown that, for large $\tanβ$ and very high luminosity of the LHC, there exist regions of the NMSSM parameter space that can be exploited to detect the $a_1$ through this channel. This signature is a characteristic feature of the NMSSM in comparison to the MSSM, as $a_1$ masses involved are well below those allowed in the MSSM for the corresponding CP-odd Higgs state.
We discuss the importance of being able to detect Higgs-to-Higgs-pair decays in the context of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model (NMSSM) and demonstrate the excellent capabilities of a photon collider for this purpose.
We demonstrate that Higgs discovery at the LHC is possible in the context of the NMSSM even for those scenarios such that the only strongly produced Higgs boson is a very SM-like CP-even scalar which decays almost entirely to a pair of relatvely light CP-odd states. In combination with other search channels, we are on the verge of demonstrating that detection of at least one of the NMSSM Higgs bosons is guaranteed at the LHC for accumulated luminosity of $300 {\rm fb}^{-1}$.
We review the potential of the LHC to detect a very light CP-odd Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, through its direct production in association with a bottom-quark pair at large tan$β$. We also review the LHC discovery potential of the two lightest CP-even Higgs states, decaying into two lighter Higgs states or into the lightest CP-odd Higgs state and the $Z$ gauge boson.
We investigate the parameter space of a model which extends next to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) with the vectorlike (VL) particles. We find that the $10+\overline{10}$ model can explain the possible diphoton excess recently revealed by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, although the predicted signal strength is a little smaller than the observed one.
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. Speci…
We study the fine tuning in the parameter space of the semi-constrained NMSSM, where most soft Susy breaking parameters are universal at the GUT scale. We discuss the dependence of the fine tuning on the soft Susy breaking parameters M_1/2 and m0, and on the Higgs masses in NMSSM specific scenarios involving large singlet-doublet Higgs mixing or dominant Higgs-to-Higgs decays. Whereas these latter scenarios allow a priori for considerably less fine tuning than the constrained MSSM, the early LHC results rule out a large part of the parameter space of the semi-constrained NMSSM corresponding to…
We study the signal rates of the second lightest CP-even Higgs boson, $h_2$, of the NMSSM produced in gluon fusion, in association with bottom quarks and in association with top quarks, which is not the SM-like Higgs boson, at the LHC. We evaluate the production rates of the $h_2$ in the SM fermionic and bosonic final states in addition to $a_1a_1$, $h_1h_1$ and $Za_1$ final states. It is observed that the size of the signal rates in some regions of the NMSSM parameter space is quite large and that could help extracting the $h_2$ signals at the LHC through a variety of decay channels.
We show how the LHC potential to detect a rather light CP-even Higgs boson of the NMSSM, H1 or H2, decaying into CP-odd Higgs states, A1A1, can be improved if Higgs-strahlung off W bosons and (more marginally) off top-antitop pairs are employed alongside vector boson fusion as production modes. Our results should help extracting at least one Higgs boson signal over the NMSSM parameter space.
The Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model NMSSM provides an attractive extension to the minimal supersymmetric model by including an extra Higgs singlet superfield. This extension allows one to link the Higgs-higgsino mass parameter to a vacuum expectation value of the new scalar field, thus providing a solution to the mu-problem of the MSSM. It this report, presented within the context of the LHC / LC Study Group, we examine a particularly interesting NMSSM scenario where the extra Higgs scalar is rather light. We determine LHC production cross-sections and branching ratios for the li…
We study the $a_1a_1$ and $Za_1$ decay channels of the next-to-lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h_2$ of the NMSSM at the LHC, where the $h_2$ is produced in gluon fusion. It is found that while the $h_2$ discovery is impossible through the latter channel, the former one in the $ 4τ$ final state is a promising channel to discover the $h_2$ with masses up to around 250 GeV at the LHC. Such a discovery of the $h_2$ is mostly accompanied with a light $a_1$, which is a clear evidence for distinguishing the NMSSM from the MSSM since such a light $a_1$ is impossible in the MSSM.
The discovery of a light, singlet-like pseudoscalar Higgs boson, $A_1$, of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) could provide a hallmark signature of non-minimal supersymmetry. We review here the potential of the LHC to probe such a light $A_1$ in the decays of one of the heavier scalar Higgs bosons of the NMSSM. We find the production of pairs of the $A_1$, with a mass below 60 GeV or so, via decays of the two lightest scalar states to be especially promising, for an integrated luminosity as low as 30/fb. For heavier masses, the decay of the heaviest scalar into a $Z$ bos…
The interplay between the LHC and the $e^+ e^-$ International Linear Collider (ILC) with $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV might be crucial for the discrimination between the minimal and next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. We present an NMSSM scenario, where the light neutralinos have a significant singlino component, that cannot be distinguished from the MSSM by cross sections and mass measurements. Mass and mixing state predictions for the heavier neutralinos from the ILC analysis at different energy stages and comparison with observation at the LHC, lead to clear identification of the particle …
Thermal leptogenesis in the canonical seesaw model in supersymmetry suffers from the incompatibility of a generic lower bound on the mass scale of the lightest right-handed neutrino and the upper bound on the reheating temperature of the Universe after inflation. This is resolved by adding an extra singlet superfield, with a discrete $Z_2$ symmetry, to the NMSSM (Next to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model). This generic mechanism is applicable to any supersymmetric model for lowering the scale of leptogenesis.
We study the $Za_1$ decay mode of a heavy CP-even Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $h_2$, where $a_1$ is the lightest CP-odd Higgs state of this scenario, the former produced in association with a bottom-antibottom pair, and find that, despite small event rates, a significant (in fact essentially background free) signal should be extractable at the LHC with very high luminosity, so long that a $Z\to jj$ (where $j$ represents a jet) and $a_1\to τ^+τ^-$ final state is exploited, in presence of $b$-tagging
We explore the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to observe the h1 -> a1 a1 -> 4 muons signal from the lightest scalar Higgs boson (h1) decaying into the two lightest pseudoscalar Higgs bosons (a1), followed by their decays into four muons in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). The signature under study applies to the region of the NMSSM parameter space in which m_a1 < 2 m_tau, which has not been studied previously. In such a scenario, the suggested strategy of searching for a four-muon signal with the appropriate background suppression would provide a powerful meth…
Superconformal anomalies provide an elegant and economical way to understand the soft breaking parameters in SUSY models; however, implementing them leads to the several undesirable features including: tachyonic sleptons and electroweak symmetry breaking problems in both the MSSM and the NMSSM. Since these two theories also have the additonal problem of massless neutrinos, we have reconsidered the AMSB problems in a class of models that extends the NMSSM to explain small neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism. In a recent paper, we showed that for a class of minimal left-right extensions, a …
We examine scenarios in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), where pair-produced squarks and gluinos decay via two cascades, each ending in a stable neutralino as Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) and a Standard Model (SM)-like Higgs boson, with mass spectra such that the missing transverse energy, $E_{T}^{\text{miss}}$, is very small. Performing two-dimensional parameter scans and focusing on the hadronic $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decay giving a $b\bar{b}b\bar{b} + E_{T}^{\text{miss}}$ final state we explore the sensitivity of a current LHC general-purpose jets+$E_{T}…
We show the potential of the LHC to detect a CP-even Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $h_1$ or $h_2$, decaying into two rather light CP-odd Higgs bosons, $a_1$, by exploiting the production mode based on Higgs-strahlung off $b$-quarks, i.e., the channel $pp\to b\bar b h_{1,2}$. We also consider the case of $h_2\to h_1 h_1$ decays. It is found that these decays have dominant BRs over large regions of the NMSSM parameter space where tan$β$ is large, a condition which also favours the $pp\to b\bar b h_{1,2}$ production rates. Further decays of the light Higgs boson pairs ($a_1$ and $h_1$) into photon, m…
We show that the interplay between the LHC and the e^+ e^- International Linear Collider (ILC) with sqrt{s}=500 GeV might be crucial for the discrimination between the minimal and next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. We present an NMSSM scenario that cannot be distinguished from the MSSM by cross sections and mass measurements if only the light neutralinos and the lightest chargino are kinematically accessible, even if one of the neutralinos has a significant singlino component. Mass predictions for the heavier neutralinos from the ILC analysis and their observation at the LHC lead t…
The galactic center excess of gamma ray photons can be naturally explained by light Majorana fermions in combination with a pseudoscalar mediator. The NMSSM provides exactly these ingredients. We show that for neutralinos with a significant singlino component the galactic center excess can be linked to invisible decays of the Standard-Model-like Higgs at the LHC. We find predictions for invisible Higgs branching ratios in excess of 50 percent, easily accessible at the LHC. Constraining the NMSSM through GUT-scale boundary conditions only slightly affects this expectation. Our results complemen…
In this paper we briefly review the LHC discovery potential of a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, produced in the gluon fusion $gg\to a_1$ , bottom-quark fusion $b\bar b\to a_1$ and bottom-gluon fusion $bg\to ba_1$. We also review the LHC discovery potential of the next-to-lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h_2$ being the non-SM-like Higgs, decaying either into two light CP-odd Higgs bosons $a_1 a_1$ or into a light $a_1$ and the $Z$ gauge boson through the gluon fusion $gg \to h_2$ in the 4$τ$ final state. We find that the light $a_1$ can be detected at the LHC in a variety of p…
In the NMSSM it is well possible to find an additional Higgs boson with a mass below 125 GeV which remains invisible in standard Higgs boson search channels. We study the Higgs pair production cross sections times branching fractions in this scenario, focusing on gluon fusion and the bb+tautau and bb+gammagamma final states. Summing over the SM-like and the lighter Higgs states, the production cross sections times branching fractions are never below the ones for SM Higgs pair production. Sizable enhancements of the signal rates are also possible, notably if a lighter Higgs state is produced. H…
We study the parameter space of the semi-constrained NMSSM, compatible with constraints on the Standard Model like Higgs mass and signal rates, constraints from searches for squarks and gluinos, a dark matter relic density compatible with bounds from WMAP/Planck, and direct detection cross sections compatible with constraints from LUX. The remaining parameter space allows for a fine-tuning as low as about 100, an additional lighter Higgs boson in the 60-120 GeV mass range detectable in the diphoton mode or in decays into a pair of lighter CP-odd Higgs bosons, and dominantly singlino like dark …
A light singlino is a promising candidate for dark matter, and a light higgsino is natural in the parameter space of the NMSSM. We study the combined constraints on this scenario resulting from the dark matter relic density, the most recent results from direct detection experiments, LEP and the LHC. In particular limits from a recent search for electroweak production of charginos and neutralinos at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV after 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ by CMS and constraints on spin-independent dark matter-nucleon cross sections from XENON1T after one tonne$\times$year exposure are considered. We find that sc…
We reexamine the constrained version of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with semi universal parameters at the GUT scale (CNMSSM). We include constraints from collider searches for Higgs and SUSY particles, upper bound on the relic density of dark matter, measurements of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and of B-physics observables as well as direct searches for dark matter. We then study the prospects for direct detection of dark matter in large scale detectors and comment on the prospects for discovery of heavy Higgs states at the LHC.
Higgs signatures from the cascade decays of light stops are an interesting possibility in the next to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We investigate the potential reach of the light stop mass at the 13 TeV run of the LHC by means of five NMSSM benchmark points where this signature is dominant. These benchmark points are compatible with current Higgs coupling measurements, LHC constraints, dark matter relic density and direct detection constraints. We consider single and di-lepton search strategies, as well as the jet-substructure technique to reconstruct the Higgs bosons. We fin…
We scan the parameter space of the NMSSM for the observability of at least one Higgs boson at the LHC with $300\fbi$ integrated luminosity, taking the present LEP2 constraints into account. We restrict the scan to those regions of parameter space for which Higgs boson decays to other Higgs bosons and/or supersymmetric particles are kinematically forbidden. We find that if $WW$-fusion detection modes for a light Higgs boson are not taken into account, then there are still significant regions in the scanned portion of the NMSSM parameter space where no Higgs boson can be observed at the $5σ$ lev…
We investigate the impact of the direct searches for SUSY at LHC Run I on the naturalness of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). For this end, we first scan the vast parameter space of the NMSSM to get the region where the fine tuning measures $Δ_Z$ and $Δ_h$ at the electroweak scale are less than about 50, then we implement by simulations the constraints of the direct searches on the parameter points in the region. Our results indicate that although the direct search experiments are effective in excluding the points, the parameter intervals for the region and also the m…
We analyze models of extended Gauge Mediation in the context of the NMSSM, concentrating on supersymmetric spectra with light gluinos, low fine-tuning and decays of the lightest neutralino leading to displaced vertices. While the minimal scenario has rather heavy gluinos as a result of restrictions from the Higgs sector, we propose two new models in which the gluino can be as light as allowed by direct searches at the LHC, with a mass of about 1.7 TeV and 2.0 TeV, respectively. Both models have a tuning of a few permille, and lead to an interesting phenomenology due to a light singlet sector. …
We analyse the impact of explicit CP-violation in the Higgs sector of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) on its consistency with the Higgs boson data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Through detailed scans of the parameter space of the complex NMSSM for certain fixed values of one of its CP-violating (CPV) phases, we obtain a large number of points corresponding to five phenomenologically relevant scenarios containing $\sim 125$ GeV Higgs boson(s). We focus, in particular, on the scenarios where the visible peaks in the experimental samples can actually be explained…
We test the impact of the ATLAS and CMS multi-lepton searches performed at the LHC with 8 as well as 13 TeV center-of-mass energy (using only the pre-2018 results) on the chargino and neutralino sector of the NMSSM. Our purpose consists in analyzing the actual reach of these searches for a full model and in emphasizing effects beyond the MSSM that affect the performance of current (MSSM-inspired) electroweakino searches. To this end, we consider several scenarios characterizing specific features of the NMSSM electroweakino sector. We then perform a detailed collider study, generating Monte-Car…
The simplest supersymmetric model that solves the mu problem and in which the GUT-scale parameters need not be finely tuned in order to predict the correct value of the Z boson mass at low scales is the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). However, in order that fine tuning be absent, the lightest CP-even Higgs boson h should have mass ~100 GeV and SM couplings to gauge bosons and fermions. The only way that this can be consistent with LEP limits is if h decays primarily via h->aa->4 tau or 4j but not 4b, where a is the lighter of the two pseudo-scalar Higgses that are presen…
We scan the parameter space of the NMSSM for the observability of a Higgs boson at the LHC with $300 {\rm fb}^{-1}$ integrated luminosity per detector, taking the present LEP constraints into account. We focus on the regions of parameter space for which none of the usually considered LHC detection modes are viable due to the fact that the only light non-singlet (and, therefore, potentially visible) Higgs boson, $h$, decays mainly to two CP-odd light Higgs bosons, $h\to a a$. We simulate the $WW\to h \to aa$ detection mode. We find that this signal may be detectable at the LHC as a signal/backg…
We study the possible LHC collider signatures in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). The general NMSSM consists of 29 supersymmetric (SUSY) particles which can be mass ordered in $29! \simeq 9 \cdot 10^{30}$ ways. To reduce the number of hierarchies to a more manageable amount we assume a degeneracy of the sfermions of the first two generations with the same quantum numbers. Further assumptions about the neutralino and chargino masses leave 15 unrelated parameters. We check all $15! \approx 10^{12}$ relevant mass orderings for the dominant decay chains and the correspond…
In this work, we present mass limits on gluinos and stops in a natural Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with a singlino as the lightest supersymmetric particle. Motivated by naturalness, we consider spectra with light higgsinos, sub-TeV third generation sparticles and gluinos well below the multi-TeV regime while the electroweak gauginos, the sleptons and the first and second generation squarks are decoupled. We check that our natural supersymmetry spectra satisfy all electroweak precision observables and flavour measurements as well as theoretical constraints. By reinterp…
The Galactic Center Excess (GCE) is explained in the framework of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with a $Z_3$ discrete symmetry. We show that a resonant CP-odd Higgs boson with mass twice that of the Dark Matter (DM) candidate is favoured. Meanwhile, the DM candidate is required to have relatively large coupling with the $Z$ boson through its Higgsino component in order to obtain correct DM relic density. Its LHC discovery potential via four signatures is discussed in detail. We find that the most sensitive signals are provided by the Higgsino-like chargino and neutr…
Relatively light stops in gauge mediation models are usually made compatible with the Higgs mass of 125 GeV by introducing direct Higgs-messenger couplings. We show that such couplings are not necessary in a simple and predictive model that combines minimal gauge mediation and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We show that one can obtain a 125 GeV Standard Model-like Higgs boson with stops as light as 1.1 TeV, thanks to the mixing of the Higgs with a singlet state at ${\cal O}(90-100)$ GeV that can explain the LEP excess. In this scenario the singlet-higgs-higgs superf…
We revisit the light pseudoscalar $A_1$ in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with partial universality at some high unification scale in order to delineate the parameter space regions consistent with up-to-date theoretical and experimental constraints and examine to what extent this state can be probed by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during Run 2. We find that it can be accessible through a variety of signatures proceeding via $A_1\to τ^+τ^-$ and/or $b\bar b$, the former assuming hadronic decays and the latter two $b$-tags within a fat jet or two separate slim ones. …
Inspired by the fact that relatively small values of the effective higgsino mass parameter of the $Z_3$-symmetric Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) could render the scenario `natural', we explore the plausibility of having relatively light neutralinos and charginos (the electroweakinos or the ewinos) in such a scenario with a rather light singlino-like Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP), which is a Dark Matter (DM) candidate, and singlet-dominated scalar excitations. By first confirming the indications in the existing literature that finding simultaneous compliance with…
An interesting feature of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) is that one or more Higgs bosons may be comparably light (M_{H_i}<M_Z) without being in conflict with current experimental bounds. Due to a large singlet component, their direct production in standard channels at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is suppressed. We demonstrate that there are good prospects for observing such a light Higgs boson in decays of heavy neutralinos and charginos. We consider an example scenario with 20 GeV < M_{H_1} < M_Z and show that a large fraction of the cascade decays of gluinos an…
We identify scenarios not ruled out by LEP data in which NMSSM Higgs detection at the LHC will be particularly challenging. We first review the `no-lose' theorem for Higgs discovery at the LHC that applies if Higgs bosons do not decay to other Higgs bosons - namely, with L=300 fb^-1, there is always one or more `standard' Higgs detection channel with at least a 5 sigma signal. However, we provide examples of no-Higgs-to-Higgs cases for which all the standard signals are no larger than 7 sigma implying that if the available L is smaller or the simulations performed by ATLAS and CMS turn out to …
This paper investigates the impact of the recent LHC constraints on the Higgs sector in the semi-constrained version of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Our analysis focuses on the parameter space for which the value of the Higgs doublet-singlet coupling, $λ$, is large as possible, while the ratio between the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs doublets, $\tanβ$, is small as possible. Under the current constraints, we present the possible fermionic decay channels and reduced cross-section into fermions final states for the lightest neutral Higgs bosons in the NMSSM, $(…
Charged Higgs boson is a crucial prediction of new physics beyond the SM. In this work, we perform a comprehensive scan over the parameter space of NMSSM considering various experimental constraints including the direct search limits from the 13 TeV LHC, and consider the scenario that the next-to-lightest CP-even Higgs boson is SM-like. We find that the masses of charged Higgs bosons can be as light as 350 GeV, the lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h_1$ is predominantly singlet and can be as light as 48 GeV, and the lightest CP-odd Higgs boson $a_1$ is also singlet-dominated and can be as light as…
A light singlino in the NMSSM can reduce considerably the missing transverse energy at the end of sparticle decay cascades; instead, light NMSSM-specific Higgs bosons can be produced. Such scenarios can be consistent with present constraints from the LHC with all sparticle masses below ~1 TeV. We discuss search strategies, which do not rely on missing transverse energy, for such scenarios at the next run of the LHC near 14 TeV.
After the discovery of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) has become more interesting as a model for new physics since new tree-level contributions to the Higgs mass makes it easier to accommodate the relatively high measured value, as compared to the MSSM. One very distinctive feature of the NMSSM is the possible existence of a light singlet-like pseudoscalar. As this pseudoscalar may be lighter than the discovered Higgs boson without conflict with data, it may lead to LHC signatures rather different to what is usually searched for in terms of n…
