Search for decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a ρ or ϕ meson

TLDR: In this paper, the authors investigated the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a ρ$−0}$(770) or ϕ(1020) meson using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC.

Abstract: Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a ρ$^{0}$(770) or ϕ(1020) meson are searched for using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{−1}$. Events are selected in which the Z boson decays into a pair of electrons or a pair of muons, and the ρ and ϕ mesons decay into pairs of pions and kaons, respectively. No significant excess above the background model is observed. As different polarization states are possible for the decay products of the Z boson and ρ or ϕ mesons, affecting the signal acceptance, scenarios in which the decays are longitudinally or transversely polarized are considered. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the Higgs boson branching fractions into Zρ and Zϕ are determined to be 1.04–1.31% and 0.31–0.40%, respectively, where the ranges reflect the considered polarization scenarios; these values are 740–940 and 730–950 times larger than the respective standard model expectations. These results constitute the first experimental limits on the two decay channels.[graphic not available: see fulltext]