A search is presented for single-produced Vector-Like B quark decaying to a standard model b-quark and a Higgs boson, itself decaying into a bottom quark pair. The search is the first at ATLAS to probe the B --> bH(bb) final state in Run-2 and aims at extending the region of the VLB mass phase space probed at ATLAS beyond the current exclusion limits, set by the recently published combination of VLB pair production searches at 1200 GeV. For this purpose, a newly designed and optimised event selection was implemented for maximal sensitivity in the 1000-2000 GeV region, and a particular effort was dedicated in researching, implementing and validating data-driven modelling techniques to provide a reliable estimation of the QCD background to the search. A binned likelihood fit is set up for the statistical interpretation of the results, which will be presented, in absence of statistically significant excesses, as a mass-dependent exclusion limit on the cross section of a VLQ-like signal.
Zoom link: https://osu.zoom.us/j/94360078109?pwd=ZkNzQmVyd1BmRk0yWTJPbjdsVDlOZz09
