Supersymmetric Exotic Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs Boson

We reveal a set of novel decay topologies for the 125 GeV Higgs boson in supersymmetry which are initiated by its decay into a pair of neutralinos, and discuss their collider search strategies. This category of exotic Higgs decays is characterized by the collider signature: visible objects+)ĒT, with )ĒT dominantly arising from escaping dark matter particles. Their benchmark arises naturally in the Peccei-Quinn symmetry limit of the minimal supersymmetric standard model singlet extensions, which is typified by the coexistence of three light particles: singletlike scalar h₁ and pseudoscalar a₁, and singlinolike neutralino χ₁, all with masses of 10 GeV, and the generic suppression of the exotic decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson h₂→h₁h₁, a₁a₁ and χ₁χ₁, however. As an illustration, we study the decay topology: h₂→χ₁χ₂, where the binolike χ₂ decays to h₁χ₁ or a₁χ₁, and h₁/a₁→ff̄, with ff̄=μ⁺μ^-, bb̄. In the dimuon case (m_h₁/a₁~1 GeV), a statistical sensitivity of S/√B>6σ can be achieved easily at the 8 TeV LHC, assuming ${σ}(pp{→}W{h}₂)/{σ}(pp{→}W{h}SM)Br({h}₂{→}{{μ}}⁺{{μ}}^{{-}}{{χ}}₁{{χ}}₁)=0.1$. In the $bb̄$ case (${m}_{{h}₁/{a}₁}{~}45 GeV$), $600 {fb}^{{-}1}$ data at the 14 TeV LHC can lead to a statistical sensitivity of $S/√B>5{σ}$, assuming ${σ}(pp{→}Z{h}₂)/{σ}(pp{→}Z{h}SM)Br({h}₂{→}bb̄{{χ}}₁{{χ}}₁)=0.5$. These exotic decays open a new avenue for exploring new physics couplings with the 125 GeV Higgs boson at colliders.