Quark flavor violating Higgs boson decay h → b̄sþ bs̄ in the MSSM

We study the quark flavor violating Higgs boson decay h → b̄sþ bs̄ in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The decay is analyzed first in a model-independent approach and second in the minimal flavor violating (MFV) constrained MSSM. The experimental constraints from B-physics observables (BPO) and electroweak precision observables (EWPO) are also calculated and imposed on the parameter space. It is shown that, in some cases, the EWPO restrict the flavor violating parameter space more than the BPO. In the model-independent analysis, values of Oð10−4Þ can be found for BRðh → b̄sþ bs̄Þ. In the MFV constrained MSSM (CMSSM), such results can only be obtained in very restricted parts of the parameter space. The results show that observation of the decay h → b̄sþ bs̄ in the MSSM at future eþe− colliders is not excluded.