Dr Elizabeth Gallas

Abstract:

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson has been performed in the H→WW→ℓνjj channel using 4.7 fb -1 of pp collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Higgs boson candidates produced in association with zero, one or two jets are included in the analysis to maximize the acceptance for both gluon fusion and weak boson fusion Higgs boson production processes. No significant excess of events is observed over the expected background and limits on the Higgs boson production cross section are derived for a Higgs boson mass in the range 300 GeV < m H < 600 GeV. The best sensitivity is reached for m H =400 GeV, where the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper bound on the cross section for H→WW produced in association with zero or one jet is 2.2 pb (1.9 pb), corresponding to 1.9 (1.6) times the Standard Model prediction. In the Higgs boson plus two jets channel, which is more sensitive to the weak boson fusion process, the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper bound on the cross section for H→WW production with m H =400 GeV is 0.7 pb (0.6 pb), corresponding to 7.9 (6.5) times the Standard Model prediction. © 2012 CERN.

Abstract:

This Letter presents the results of a direct search with the ATLAS detector at the LHC for a Standard Model Higgs boson of mass 110≤mH≤130GeV produced in association with a W or Z boson and decaying to bb'. Three decay channels are considered: ZH→ℓ+ℓ-bb', WH→ℓνbb' and ZH→νν'bb', where ℓ corresponds to an electron or a muon. No evidence for Higgs boson production is observed in a dataset of 7TeV pp collisions corresponding to 4.7fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected by ATLAS in 2011. Exclusion limits on Higgs boson production, at the 95% confidence level, of 2.5 to 5.5 times the Standard Model cross section are obtained in the mass range 110-130GeV. The expected exclusion limits range between 2.5 and 4.9 for the same mass interval. © 2012 CERN.