Searching for Higgs Boson Pair Production with the ATLAS Experiment at the CERN LHC

It's possible that the 125 GeV Higgs boson discovered by the CERN ATLAS and CMS Experiments is only one of several neutrally-charged Higgs bosons predicted by theories beyond the Standard Model. Many of these theories predict the existence of a more massive Higgs boson that is able to decay into two lighter 125 GeV Higgses.  New physics could also result in resonant Higgs boson pair production via the decay of spin-2 gravitons.  The student will develop analysis strategies to search for the production of two neutral 125 GeV Higgs bosons, and then carry out these search strategies on the ATLAS Run-3 13.6 TeV proton-proton collision data. Searches will focus on a final state where one of the Higgs bosons decays into two tau leptons, and the second Higgs boson decays to a pair of bottom quarks. The student will also use this same final state to explore the Higgs boson self-coupling and perform a measurement of λhhh. The student will participate in developing algorithms for tau lepton identification, and will also have the opportunity to assist with silicon module construction for the ATLAS tracker upgrade.