Enlarging the scope of resonant di-Higgs searches: hunting for Higgs-to-Higgs cascades in 4b final states at the LHC and future colliders

Abstract

Abstract We extend the coverage of resonant di-Higgs searches in the b$$ \overline{b} $$ b ¯ b$$ \overline{b} $$ b ¯ final state to the process pp → H1→ H2H2→ b$$ \overline{b} $$ b ¯ b$$ \overline{b} $$ b ¯ , where both H1,2 are spin-0 states beyond the Standard Model. Such a process constitutes a joint discovery mode for the new states H1 and H2. We present the first sensitivity study of this channel, using public LHC data to validate our analysis. We also provide a first estimate of the sensitivity of the search for the HL-LHC and future facilities like the HE-LHC and FCC-hh. We analyze the discovery potential of this search for several non-minimal scalar sector scenarios: an extension of the SM with two extra singlet scalar fields, the two-Higgs-doublet model and a two-Higgs doublet model plus a singlet, which captures the scalar potential features of the NMSSM. We find that this channel represents a novel, very powerful probe for extended Higgs sectors, offering complementary sensitivity to existing analyses.