Production and decays of the light pseudoscalar boson η at the CERN LHC in the simplest little Higgs model

In many extensions of the standard model, the Higgs sector often contains an additional pseudoscalar boson. A good example is the SU(3) simplest little Higgs model, which accommodates a light pseudoscalar boson eta with quite different characteristics from those in other multi-Higgs-doublet models. We study various phenomenological signatures of the eta at the CERN LHC. In particular, we calculate in details both production and decays in the Drell-Yan type channel q (q) over bar -> Z/Z' -> h eta, and in the associated production with t (t) over bar pair, gg(q (q) over bar) -> t (t) over bar eta. We emphasize the tau(+)tau(-) decay mode of the eta boson when its mass is below the b (b) over bar threshold. We show that t (t) over bar eta production is in fact large enough to give a sizable number of events while suppressing the backgrounds. We also comment on the direct gluon fusion process and the indirect decay from the heavy T quark (T -> t eta).