Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to μ+μ− in pp collisions at √s=7 and 8TeV

Abstract

A search for neutral Higgs bosons predicted in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) for decay channels is presented. The analysis uses data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton–proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and 19.3 fb−1, respectively. The search is sensitive to Higgs bosons produced either through the gluon fusion process or in association with a quark pair. No statistically significant excess is observed in the mass spectrum. Results are interpreted in the framework of several benchmark scenarios, and the data are used to set an upper limit on the MSSM parameter as a function of the mass of the pseudoscalar A boson in the range from 115 to 300 GeV. Model independent upper limits are given for the product of the cross section and branching fraction for gluon fusion and b quark associated production at . They are the most stringent limits obtained to date in this channel.