Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the $μμ bb$ and $ττ bb$ final states
A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson (H) with a mass of 125 GeV to a pair of light pseudoscalars a 1 is performed in final states where one pseudoscalar decays to two quarks and the other to a pair of muons or leptons. A data sample of proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb -1 recorded with the CMS detector is analyzed. No statistically significant excess is observed over the standard model backgrounds. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level (CL) on the Higgs boson branching fraction to μ μ b b and to τ τ b b via a pair of a 1 s. The limits depend on the pseudoscalar mass m a 1 and are observed to be in the range (0.17–3.3) x 10 -4 and (1.7–7.7) x 10 -2 in the μ μ b b and τ τ b b final states, respectively. In the framework of models with two Higgs doublets and a complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S), the results of the two final states are combined to determine upper limits on the branching fraction ${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} \rightarrow \ell \ell \text{ b } \text{ b})$ at 95% CL, with ℓ being a muon or a τ lepton. For different types of 2HDM+S, upper bounds on the branching fraction ${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} )$ are extracted from the combination of the two channels. In most of the Type II 2HDM+S parameter space ${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} )$, values above 0.23 are excluded at 95% CL for m a 1 values between 15 and 60 GeV.