$A^{0}Z^{0}$ associated production at the Large Hadron Collider in the minimal supersymmetric standard model

Abstract

We investigate in detail the $A^{0}Z^{0}$ associated production process $pp \to A^0Z^0+X$ within the framework of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), considering both contributions from the Drell-Yan and gluon fusion subprocesses. We focus on the deviations from the general two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) arising in the MSSM. We also discuss the contributions of the two $A^{0}Z^{0}$ associated production subprocesses in the MSSM at the LHC, and analyse the dependences of the total cross section on neutral CP-odd Higgs boson mass $m_A$ and $\tanβ$ in the mSUGRA scenario. We find that the contribution from loop mediated gluon fusion subprocess can be competitive with that from the Drell-Yan subprocess in some parameter space.