Search for heavy Higgs bosons decaying to a top quark pair in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13\,\mathrm{TeV}$

Multiple new-physics models extending the standard model predict the existence of additional scalar (H) or pseudoscalar (A) Higgs bosons. In this note, a search is presented for such new bosons decaying to a top quark pair in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $13\,\mathrm{TeV}$. The data set analyzed corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $35.9\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016. Final states with one or two charged leptons are considered, where the lepton may be a muon or an electron. The invariant mass of the reconstructed top quark pair system and variables that are sensitive to the spin of the particles decaying into the top quark pair are used to search for signatures of the H or A bosons. The strength of the coupling of the hypothetical bosons to the top quark is probed as a function of the mass and width of the boson. The interference with the standard model top quark pair background is taken into account explicitly. The results are interpreted in a model-independent way as well as in a minimal supersymmetric standard model framework.