This thesis presents the analysis that led to the observation of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson decay into pairs of bottom quarks. The analysis, based on a multivariate strategy, exploits the production of a Higgs boson associated with a vector boson. The analysis was performed on a dataset corresponding to a luminosity of 79.8/fb collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run-2 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. An excess of events over the expected background is observed in a combination with complementary Hbb searches. The analysis was extended to provide a finer interpretation of the signal measurement. The cross sections of the V H(H → bb) process have been measured in exclusive regions of phase space and used to search for deviations from the SM with an effective field theory approach. The results are discussed in this book. A novel technique for the fast simulation of the ATLAS forward calorimeter response is also presented. The new technique is based on similarity search, a branch of machine learning that enables quick and efficient searches for vectors similar to each other.
The discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) represents a milestone for the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Most of the SM Higgs production and decay rates have been measured at the LHC with increased precision. However, despite its experimental success, the SM is known to be only an effective manifestation of a more fundamental description of nature. The scientific research at the LHC is strongly focused on extending the SM by searching, directly or indirectly, for indications of New Physics. The extensive physics program requires increasingly advanced computational and algorithmic techniques. In the last decades, Machine Learning (ML) methods have made a prominent appearance in the field of particle physics, and promise to address many challenges faced by the LHC. This thesis presents the analysis that led to the observation of the SM Higgs boson decay into pairs of bottom quarks. The analysis exploits the production of a Higgs boson associated with a vector boson whose signatures enable efficient triggering and powerful background reduction. The main strategy to maximise the signal sensitivity is based on a multivariate approach. The analysis is performed on a dataset corresponding to a luminosity of 79.8/fb collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run-2 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. An excess of events over the expected background is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.9 (4.3) standard deviation. A combination with results from other \Hbb searches provides an observed (expected) significance of 5.4 (5.5). The corresponding ratio between the signal yield and the SM expectation is 1.01 +- 0.12 (stat.)+ 0.16-0.15(syst.). The 'observation' analysis was further extended to provide a finer interpretation of the V H(H → bb) signal measurement. The cross sections for the VH production times the H → bb branching ratio have been measured in exclusive regions of phase space. These measurements are used to search for possible deviations from the SM with an effective field theory approach, based on anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson. The results of the cross-section measurements, as well as the constraining of the operators that affect the couplings of the Higgs boson to the vector boson and the bottom quarks, have been documented and discussed in this thesis. This thesis also describes a novel technique for the fast simulation of the forward calorimeter response, based on similarity search methods. Such techniques constitute a branch of ML and include clustering and indexing methods that enable quick and efficient searches for vectors similar to each other. The new simulation approach provides optimal results in terms of detector resolution response and reduces the computational requirements of a standard particles simulation.
Lincoln, a senior scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and adjunct professor of physics at Notre Dame, gives readers an insider's view of the Hadron Collider from its conception, through its early discoveries and difficulties, to its greatest triumph, the discovery of the Higgs boson.
This thesis reports on the search for dark matter in data taken with the ATLAS detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The identification of dark matter and the determination of its properties are among the highest priorities in elementary particle physics and cosmology. The most likely candidate, a weakly interacting massive particle, could be produced in the high energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis presented here is unique in looking for dark matter produced together with a Higgs boson that decays into its dominant decay mode, a pair of b quarks. If dark matter were seen in this mode, we would learn directly about the production mechanism because of the presence of the Higgs boson. This thesis develops the search technique and presents the most stringent production limit to date.
A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman. At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.
This study reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using data from 20.3 fb–1 of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum bb¯ system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent upper limits are placed on the visible cross sections for events with a Higgs boson decaying into bb¯ and large missing transverse momentum with thresholds ranging from 150 to 400 GeV. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z' gauge boson decaying into different Higgs bosons predicted in a two-Higgs-doublet model, of which the heavy pseudoscalar Higgs decays into a pair of dark matter particles. Exclusion limits are also presented for the mass scales of various effective field theory operators that describe the interaction between dark matter particles and the Higgs boson.
In this dissertation, we present a search for non-standard decay of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalar lighter bosons H →aa with 12 Geva/sub
In 1964, a mechanism explaining the origin of particle masses was proposed by Robert Brout, François Englert, and Peter W. Higgs. 48 years later, in 2012, the so-called Higgs boson was discovered in proton-proton collisions recorded by experiments at the LHC. Since then, its ability to interact with quarks remained experimentally unconfirmed. This book presents a search for Higgs bosons produced in association with top quarks tt̄H in data recorded with the CMS detector in 2016. It focuses on Higgs boson decays into bottom quarks H → bb̅ and top quark pair decays involving at least one lepton. In this analysis, a multiclass classification approach using deep learning techniques was applied for the first time. In light of the dominant background contribution from tt̄ production, the developed method proved to achieve superior sensitivity with respect to existing techniques. In combination with searches in different decay channels, the presented work contributed to the first observations of tt̄H production and H → bb̅ decays.
