Thesis BELLE2-PTHESIS-2021-016

Searches for an invisible Z' and for the dark Higgsstrahlung A'h' process in μ⁺μ⁻ plus missing energy final states at Belle II

Marcello Campajola ; Guglielmo De Nardo ; Francesco Di Capua

2021
Università di Napoli "Federico II" Napoli (IT)

Abstract: The work presented in this thesis concerns two searches for dark sector mediators in $e^+e^-$ annihilations at the center-of-mass energy of 10.58~GeV with the Belle II experiment. Two different processes have been investigated in the same final state, consisting of two muons plus missing energy, by using the first data collected by the experiment so far. The first search presented in this work investigates an invisibly decaying $Z^\prime$ boson (in the framework of a $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ symmetry) produced radiatively by muons in the process $e^+e^-\to \mu^+\mu^- Z^\prime,\, Z^\prime\to \rm{invisible}$. The only previous measurements in the same theoretical framework have been performed by the BaBar and CMS experiments for a $Z^\prime$ decaying to muons, while no results for an invisible decay have been reported before. For this measure, the data-set collected by Belle~II during the so-called Phase~2 commissioning run in 2018 has been used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 276 pb$^{-1}$. No anomalies have been observed in data, and upper limits on the coupling constant $g^\prime$ in the range $[5 \times 10^{-2}-1]$ have been placed for a $Z^\prime$ mass less than 6~GeV/c$^2$. As an extension of the above search, the existence of a LFV $Z^\prime$ boson has been investigated in the process $e^+e^-\to e^\pm \mu^\mp Z^\prime,\,Z^\prime\to \rm{invisible}$. No anomalies have been observed, and model independent upper limits on the cross section (times efficiency) have been computed. The search for a different process is also presented, consisting in the simultaneous production of a dark photon $A^\prime$ and a dark Higgs $h^\prime$ boson via the so-called dark Higgstrahlung process $e^+e^- \to A^\prime h^\prime$ with $A^\prime\to \mu^+\mu^-$ and $h^\prime\to \rm{invisible}$. The analysis flow, optimized for the data collected by the experiment during 2019, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $\sim9\,\rm{fb}^{-1}$, is described and the expected upper limits on the cross section and in terms of the coupling constants product $\epsilon^2\times\alpha_D$ are provided. The only similar measurement was performed by the KLOE experiment, for $A^\prime$ masses up to $\simeq$ 1 GeV/c$^2$. Belle~II will produce a sizeable enlargement of the currently explored region.

Note: Presented on 24 06 2021
Note: PhD

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