Study of b-quarks in the minimal supersymmetric standard model at large tan B

Abstract

The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) at large tan β naturally leads to enhanced coupling of some Higgs bosons to b quarks, as well as the possibility of a very light sbottom, ˜b. We investigate the 5σ discovery prospects at the CERN Large Hadron Collider of a neutral Higgs boson produced with a single energetic b quark followed by Higgs decay into µ +µ − or τ +τ − lepton pairs. Promising results are found for Higgs masses upto 600 GeV and 1 TeV for muon and tau decays respectively. This process greatly improves the discovery potential of the LHC beyond the inclusive channel pp → φ 0 → µ +µ −/τ +τ − + X. We also study constraints on the light ˜b (2 − 5 GeV) and light gluino (12−16 GeV) window from data collected at the CERN LEP collider. It is shown that existing data for 3-jet events as well as that for Z → b ¯bb¯b decays could contain hidden signatures of sbottoms.