Discovery prospects of a light scalar in the NMSSM

We study a region in the nmssm parameter space in which the mass of the sm-like higgs boson is uplifted by ∼ 4 − 17 gev, allowing for stop masses and |a t | ≤ 1 tev alleviating the little fine tuning problem of the mssm. an uplift of the mass of the sm-like higgs boson is possible in two distinct regions in the nmssm parameter space: either for large λ and small tan β or, through singlet-doublet mixing, for small λ and large tan β. for a mostly singlet-like higgs state h s with a mass below 125 gev we investigate possible direct or indirect search channels at the run ii of the lhc as function of the nmssm-specific uplift of the mass of the sm-like higgs boson: direct production of h s in gluon fusion with h s decaying into diphotons, modified reduced couplings of the sm-like higgs state, and the possible production of h s in ggf → a → z +h s . we find that the region featuring singlet-doublet mixing can be tested if searches at the lhc at 13 tev for bsm higgs bosons in the mass range 88 − 102 gev decaying into diphotons become sensitive to signal cross sections σ(gg → h s → γγ) ∼ 20fb, or if measurements of the reduced coupling κ v (h sm ) of the sm higgs boson to electroweak gauge boson exclude (or confirm) the region κ v (h sm ) ≲ 0.93.