Testing complex singlet scalar cosmology at the Large Hadron Collider

Abstract

Abstract The Standard Model extended with a complex singlet scalar (cxSM) can admit a strong first order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT) as needed for electroweak baryogenesis and provide a dark matter (DM) candidate. The presence of both a DM candidate and a singlet-like scalar that mixes with the Standard Model Higgs boson leads to the possibility of a $$ b\overline{b} $$ b b ¯ + MET final state in pp collisions. Focusing on this channel, we analyze the prospective reach at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for a heavy singlet-like scalar in regions of cxSM parameter space compatible with a SFOEWPT and DM phenomenology. We identify this parameter space while implementing current constraints from electroweak precision observable and Higgs boson property measurements as well as those implied by LHC heavy resonance searches. Implementing a proposed search strategy, we find that the heavy scalar and DM candidate can be probed up to 1 TeV and 450 GeV at 2σ level respectively.