Search for Pair Production of Higgs Bosons in the Four Bottom Quark Final State Using Proton-Proton Collisions at √s=13 TeV with the Atlas Detector

A search for Higgs boson pair production in the four b-jet final state is carried out with up to 36.1/fb of LHC proton--proton collision data collected at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. Three benchmark signals are studied: a spin-2 graviton decaying into a Higgs boson pair, a scalar resonance decaying into a Higgs boson pair, and Standard Model non-resonant Higgs boson pair production. This thesis presents a search in events with four individually resolved b-tagged jets. Higgs bosons produced with large momenta are reconstructed as single large radius jets with substructure. The analysis of this topology is presented in CERN-THESIS-2018-118. The two analyses are statistically combined and upper limits on the production cross section of Higgs boson pairs times branching ratio to four b-quarks are set in each model. The combined result searches for resonance masses in the range 260-3000 GeV. No significant excess is observed; the largest deviation of data over prediction is found at a mass of 280 GeV, corresponding to 2.3 standard deviations globally. The observed 95% confidence level upper limit on the non-resonant production is 13 times the Standard Model prediction.