Search for a resonance decaying into a scalar particle and a Higgs boson in the final state with two bottom quarks and two photons in proton–proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the resonant production of a heavy scalar X decaying into a Higgs boson and a new lighter scalar S, through the process X → S(→bb¯)H(→γγ), where the two photons are consistent with the Higgs boson decay, is performed. The search is conducted using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb⁻¹ of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed over the mass range 170 ≤ m_X ≤ 1000 GeV and 15 ≤ m_S ≤ 500 GeV. Parameterised neural networks are used to enhance the signal purity and to achieve continuous sensitivity in a domain of the (m_X, m_S) plane. No significant excess above the expected background is found and 95% CL upper limits are set on the cross section times branching ratio, ranging from 39 fb to 0.09 fb. The largest deviation from the background-only expectation occurs for (m_X, m_S) = (575, 200) GeV with a local (global) significance of 3.5 (2.0) standard deviations.