Charged Higgs Boson Studies in the Channel pp→a₁h^±→4b+l+MET in the Next-to MSSM (NMSSM) with the ATLAS Experiment

Abstract:

Next-to-minimal super-symmetric extensions of the Standard Model (SM) predict the existence of several non-SM like Higgs bosons. The process pp→a₁h^±→4b+W involves the production and the decay of a spin-0 charged Higgs boson and a CP-odd Higgs boson a₁ which can have a sizable cross section in the NMSSM. The invariant masses of these intermediate bosons can be reconstructed from the four momenta of the final state particles using mass minimization algorithms. This thesis presents a cut-based analysis of two mass scenarios and specialized algorithms that are capable of recovering the signal in a large background arising from Standard Model processes such as ttbar. The analysis is tested with a realistic ATLAS detector simulation investigating trigger efficiencies and probing several jet reconstruction algorithms.