CMS
PRELIMINARY
BEYOND SM
Search for rare Higgs boson decays with mesons at the HL-LHC
Rare decays of the Higgs boson via quarkonium mesons are promising laboratories to search for physics beyond the standard model (BSM). The decay channels of interest are {Q}, {Z}{Q}, or {QQ}. BSM physics might alter Yukawa couplings to quarks, possibly resulting in higher decay rates than predicted by the standard model. Decays of the Higgs boson into a {Z} boson and a meson are searched for in four-lepton final states with the CMS detector at the LHC. In addition, Higgs decays into pairs of mesons are studied. This analysis uses these two Higgs decays to benchmark the CL upper limit reach with the CMS detector at the HL-LHC.