Search for bottom-type, vectorlike quark pair production in a fully hadronic final state in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract

CMS Collaboration: et al. ; A search is described for the production of a pair of bottom-type vectorlike quarks (VLQs), each decaying into a b or ¯b quark and either a Higgs or a Z boson, with a mass greater than 1000 GeV. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a 13 TeV center-of-mass energy recorded at the CERN LHC, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 137 fb-1. As the predominant decay modes of the Higgs and Z bosons are to a pair of quarks, the analysis focuses on final states consisting of jets resulting from the six quarks produced in the events. Since the two jets produced in the decay of a highly Lorentz-boosted Higgs or Z boson can merge to form a single jet, nine independent analyses are performed, categorized by the number of observed jets and the reconstructed event mode. No signal in excess of the expected background is observed. Lower limits are set on the VLQ mass at 95% confidence level equal to 1570 GeV in the case where the VLQ decays exclusively to a b quark and a Higgs boson, 1390 GeV for when it decays exclusively to a b quark and a Z boson, and 1450 GeV for when it decays equally in these two modes. These limits represent significant improvements over the previously published VLQ limits. ; Individuals have received support from the MarieCurie program and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contracts No. 675440, No. 752730, and No. 765710 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation a la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F. R. S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the "Excellence of Science—EOS"—be.h project n. 30820817; the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, No. Z191100007219010; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Germany's Excellence Strategy—EXC 2121 "Quantum Universe"—390833306; the Lendület ("Momentum") Program and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program ÚNKP, the NKFIA research grants No. 123842, No. 123959, No. 124845, No. 124850 No. 125105, No. 128713, No. 128786, and No. 129058(Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the HOMING PLUS program of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Center (Poland), contracts Harmonia 2014/14/M/ST2/00428, Opus 2014/13/B/ST2/02543, 2014/15/B/ST2/ 03998, and 2015/19/B/ST2/02861, Sonata-bis 2012/07/E/ST2/01406; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, project no. 02.a03.21.0005 (Russia); the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Tecnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu, grant MDM-2015-0509 and the Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias; the Thalis and Aristeia programs cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); the Kavli Foundation; the Nvidia Corporation; the SuperMicro Corporation; the Welch Foundation, contract C-1845; and the Weston Havens Foundation (USA). ; Funded by SCOAP3. ; Peer reviewed