Search for heavy resonances decaying into two Higgs bosons in the $\mathrm{b}\bar{\mathrm{b}}\,\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13~\text{TeV}$ with the CMS detector

Abstract

A search is presented for massive narrow-width resonances in the mass range of $1\text{-}4.5\,\text{TeV}$ decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (HH), using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of $13\,\text{TeV}$ collected with the CMS detector at the LHC during the $2016\text{-}2018$ data-taking. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of $138~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$. The analysis targets final states where one Higgs boson decays into a pair of bottom quarks and the other into a pair of tau leptons, $\mathrm{X}\rightarrow\mathrm{HH}\rightarrow \mathrm{b}\bar{\mathrm{b}}\,\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$. The observed data are found to be consistent with standard model background expectations. Upper limits at $95\%$ confidence level (CL) are set on the production cross section for resonant HH production for masses between $1$ and $4.5\,\text{TeV}$. This analysis sets the most sensitive LHC limits to date on $\mathrm{X}\rightarrow\mathrm{HH}\rightarrow \mathrm{b}\bar{\mathrm{b}}\,\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ decays in the mass range of $1.4$ to $4.5\,\text{TeV}$.