Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to μ < sup > + < /sup > μ < sup > - < /sup > in pp collisions at √s=7 and 8 TeV

Abstract

A search for neutral Higgs bosons predicted in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) for μ+μ- decay channels is presented. The analysis uses data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and 19.3 fb-1, respectively. The search is sensitive to Higgs bosons produced either through the gluon fusion process or in association with a bb quark pair. No statistically significant excess is observed in the μ+μ- mass spectrum. Results are interpreted in the framework of several benchmark scenarios, and the data are used to set an upper limit on the MSSM parameter tanβ as a function of the mass of the pseudoscalar A boson in the range from 115 to 300 GeV. Model independent upper limits are given for the product of the cross section and branching fraction for gluon fusion and b quark associated production at s=8 TeV. They are the most stringent limits obtained to date in this channel.