Search for Higgs boson exotic decays into Lorentz-boosted light bosons in the four-$τ$ final state at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of low-mass scalars that subsequently decay into $τ$-leptons, $H\rightarrow aa\rightarrow τ^+τ^-τ^+τ^-$, is presented. In models with Yukawa-like couplings, the decay to $τ$-leptons is favoured for light $a$-bosons, with mass in the range of $2m_τ < m_a < 2m_{b}$. Results are presented in the range of $4 \, \mathrm{GeV} < m_a < 15 \, \mathrm{GeV} $ using the $140\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. This search focuses on the scenario where, for both di-$τ$ pairs, one of the $τ$-leptons decays to hadrons and neutrinos, while the other decays to a muon and neutrinos. In this mass range, the $a\rightarrow τ^+τ^-$ is Lorentz-boosted and a dedicated muon removal technique is used to reconstruct the di-$τ$ pairs. No significant excess above the Standard Model background prediction is observed. Upper limits on $(σ(H)/σ_{\mathrm{SM}}(H))\times \mathcal{B}(H\rightarrow aa\rightarrow 4τ)$ at $95\%$ confidence level are provided, ranging from $0.03$ to $0.10$ depending on the $a$-boson mass.