Search for Higgs boson pair production in the b b-bar W W decay channel with two leptons in the final state using proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 13.6 TeV

A search for Higgs boson pair production is presented, targeting final states where one Higgs boson decays to a bottom quark-antiquark pair and the other Higgs boson decays to two W bosons, both of which decay leptonically, to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. For the first time, the search is conducted with proton-proton collision data from the LHC at √ s = 13.6 TeV, recorded with the CMS detector in 2022 and 2023 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62 fb−1 . The results are consistent with the standard model predictions. An upper limit of 12.0 times the standard model prediction at 95% confidence level is set on the Higgs boson pair production cross section, with an expected limit of 18.5. The results are also used to constrain the strength of the trilinear self-coupling of the Higgs boson, as well as of the quartic coupling between two Higgs bosons and two vector bosons.