Search for the Higgs boson decay to a $Z$ boson and a photon in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV and $13.6$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A search for the Higgs boson decay to a $Z$ boson and a photon in the $\ell\ellγ$ ($\ell = e, μ$) final state is performed using $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13.6$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during 2022-2024, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 165 fb$^{-1}$. The signal yield, normalised to the Standard Model prediction, is measured to be $μ=0.9^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$, compared to an expected value of $μ=1.0\pm0.7$. This corresponds to an observed (expected) signal significance of 1.4 (1.5) standard deviations for the background-only hypothesis. This result is combined with that of a similar search performed with 140 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions to provide the most stringent expected sensitivity to date to this rare decay, namely an observed (expected) signal strength of $μ= 1.3^{+0.6}_{-0.5}$ ($μ= 1.0^{+0.6}_{-0.5}$), corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.5 (1.9) standard deviations. The measurement is consistent with the Standard Model expectation.