Direct search for exotic spin zero particles in the di-lepton final state of Higgs-Z associated production in sqrt(s) = 13 TeV pp collisions
This thesis presents a search for a new exotic spin-0 particle a in 36.47 fb^(-1) of sqrt(s) = 13 TeV pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This analysis is part of a broader search for a H ==> aa ==> bbbb, which uses a Higgs produced in association with a weak vector boson to improve triggering on events. The channel considered here uses Higgs-Z---associated production with two leptons in the final state. The analysis uses a likelihood-fit profile of a multivariate discriminant to place 95% confidence limit upper bounds on the cross section of the proposed signal. A study of the performance of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter in extremely energetic events is also presented.
LHC, ATLAS, BSM, Beyond the Standard Model, Higgs Physics, Exotic Search, Scalar, Pseudoscalar, Z Boson, Di-lepton
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign