We present the results of the CDF search for a Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into a pair of W bosons with electrons, muons and hadronically decaying taus in the final state. In particular, we investigate a channel with three objects, two leptons and a tau. In 9.7 fb-1 of data we expect 40.0 ± 5.4 background events and 0.54 ± 0.05 signal events for a Higgs mass hypothesis of 160 GeV/c2, whereas in data we count 28 events. We set a 95% C.L. upper limit on [sigma]/[sigma]SM of 12.6 for a Higgs mass hypothesis of 160 GeV/c2. The expected 95% C.L. upper limit for the same mass is 12.4. Results for other ninete 0 GeV/c2 to 200 GeV/c2 are also presented.
This thesis describes the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying to tau lepton pairs, in the Tevatron proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.96 TeV. The search is based on approximately 2.3 fb$^{-1}$ of CDF Run II data and is performed by considering the following signal processes: WH($\rightarrow\tau\tau$), ZH($\rightarrow\tau\tau$), qHq'$\rightarrow$q$\tau\tau$q' and gg$\rightarrow$H$\rightarrow\tau\tau$. Events are selected by requiring an hadronic tau and one isolated electron or muon, coming from the leptonic decay of one of the two taus. In addition, at least one calorimeter jet must be present in the final state. We expect 921.8$\pm$48.9 background events in the 1 jet channel and 159.4$\pm$11.6 in the $\ge$ 2 jets channel, while in data we observe 965 and 166 events, respectively. In order to improve the search sensitivity we employ a multivariate technique, based on a set of Boosted Decision Trees trained to get the best sep aration between signal and the dominant sources of background. We observe no evidence for a Higgs boson signal and therefore we set a 95\% confidence level (C.L.) upper limit on the cross section relative to the SM predictions ($\sigma/\sigma_{\mathrm{SM}}$). Results are presented for the Higgs boson mass varying from M$_\mathrm{H}$ = 100 GeV/$c^2$ to M$_\mathrm{H}$ = 150 GeV/$c^2$. For the mass hypothesis of 120 GeV/c$^2$ the observed limit is 27.2, while the corresponding expected value is 23.4$^{+9.8}_{-6.4}$.
A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson is performed in 4.0 fb-1 of p$ar{p}$ collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV, collected with the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The final state considered is a pair of b-jets with large missing transverse energy and one hadronic tau decay as expected from the reaction p$ar{p}$ → WH → ? v b$ar{b}$. Boosted decision trees are used to discriminate the signal from the background. Good agreement is observed between data and expected backgrounds. For a Higgs boson mass of 115 GeV, a limit is set at 95% C.L. on the cross-section times branching fraction of (p$ar{p}$→ (Z/W)H)×(H → b$ar{b}$) which is 14 times larger than the Standard Model value.
A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson is performed in 4.0 fb-1 of p$\bar{p}$ collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV, collected with the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The final state considered is a pair of b-jets with large missing transverse energy and one hadronic tau decay as expected from the reaction p$\bar{p}$ → WH → [tau] v b$\bar{b}$. Boosted decision trees are used to discriminate the signal from the background. Good agreement is observed between data and expected backgrounds. For a Higgs boson mass of 115 GeV, a limit is set at 95% C.L. on the cross-section times branching fraction of (p$\bar{p}$→ (Z/W)H)×(H → b$\bar{b}$) which is 14 times larger than the Standard Model value.
A search for the Higgs boson decaying to tau tau using 7.8 fb^-1 of pp collisions at 1.96 TeV collected with CDF II detector is presented. The search is sensitive to four production mechanisms of the Higgs boson: ggH, WH, ZH and VBF. Modes where one tau decay leptonically, and another decay, hadronically, are considered. Two novel techniques are developed and used in the search. A Probabilistic Particle Flow Algorithm is used for energy measurements of the hadronic tau candidates. The signal is discriminated from backgrounds by the Missing Mass Calculator, which allows for full invariant mass reconstruction of tau tau pair. The data are found to be consistent with the background only hypothesis. Therefore a 95% confidence level upper limit on the Standard Model Higgs boson cross section was set. At M_H=120 GeV/c^2 observed limit is 14.9 x sigma_SM x Br(H -> tau tau).
A search for the Higgs boson decaying to $ au au$ using 7.8f̃b${̂-1}$ of $par{p}$ collisions at 1.96T̃eV collected with CDF II detector is presented. The search is sensitive to four production mechanisms of the Higgs boson: ggH, WH, ZH and VBF. Modes where one tau decay leptonically, and another decay, hadronically, are considered. Two novel techniques are developed and used in the search. A Probabilistic Particle Flow Algorithm is used for energy measurements of the hadronic tau candidates. The signal is discriminated from backgrounds by the Missing Mass Calculator, which allows for full invariant mass reconstruction of $ au au$ pair. The data are found to be consistent with the background only hypothesis. Therefore a 95% confidence level upper limit on the Standard Model Higgs boson cross section was set. At $M_H$$=$120G̃eV/$c2̂$ observed limit is 14.9$ imessigma_{SM} imes Br (H → ??)$.
The question of the nature and principles of the universe and our place in it is the driving force of science since Mesopotamian astronomers glanced for the first time at the starry sky and Greek atomism has been formulated. During the last hundred years modern science was able to extend its knowledge tremendously, answering many questions, opening entirely new fields but as well raising many new questions. Particularly Astronomy, Astroparticle Physics and Particle Physics lead the race to answer these fundamental and ancient questions experimentally. Today it is known that matter consists of fermions, the quarks and leptons. Four fundamental forces are acting between these particles, the electromagnetic, the strong, the weak and the gravitational force. These forces are mediated by particles called bosons. Our confirmed knowledge of particle physics is based on these particles and the theory describing their dynamics, the Standard Model of Particles. Many experimental measurements show an excellent agreement between observation and theory but the origin of the particle masses and therefore the electroweak symmetry breaking remains unexplained. The mechanism proposed to solve this issue involves the introduction of a complex doublet of scalar fields which generates the masses of elementary particles via their mutual interactions. This Higgs mechanism also gives rise to a single neutral scalar boson with an unpredicted mass, the Higgs boson. During the last twenty years several experiments have searched for the Higgs boson but so far it escaped direct observation. Nevertheless these studies allow to further constrain its mass range. The last experimental limits on the Higgs mass have been set in 2001 at the LEP collider, an electron positron machine close to Geneva, Switzerland. The lower limit set on the Higgs boson mass is m{sub H}> 114.4 GeV/c2 and remained for many years the last experimental constraint on the Standard Model Higgs Boson due to the shutdown of the LEP collider and the experimental challenges at hadron machines as the Tevatron. This thesis was performed using data from the D0 detector located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL. Final states containing two electrons or a muon and a tau in combination with missing transverse energy were studied to search for the Standard Model Higgs boson, utilizing up to 4.2 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. In 2008 the CDF and D0 experiments in a combined effort were able to reach for the first time at a hadron collider the sensitivity to further constrain the possible Standard Model Higgs boson mass range. The research conducted for this thesis played a pivotal role in this effort. Improved methods for lepton identification, background separation, assessment of systematic uncertainties and new decay channels have been studied, developed and utilized. Along with similar efforts at the CDF experiment these improvements led finally the important result of excluding the presence of a Standard Model Higgs boson in a mass range of m{sub H} = 160-170 GeV/c2 at 95% Confidence Level. Many of the challenges and methods found in the present analysis will probably in a similar way be ingredients of a Higgs boson evidence or discovery in the near future, either at the Tevatron or more likely at the soon starting Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Continuing to pursue the Higgs boson we are looking forward to many exciting results at the Tevatron and soon at the LHC. In Chapter 2 an introduction to the Standard Model of particle physics and the Higgs mechanism is given, followed by a brief outline of existing theoretical and experimental constraints on the Higgs boson mass before summarizing the Higgs boson production modes. Chapter 3 gives an overview of the experimental setup. This is followed by a description of the reconstruction of the objects produced in proton-antiproton collisions in Chapter 4 and the necessary calorimeter calibrations in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 follows with an explanation of the phenomenology of the proton-antiproton collisions and the data samples used. In Chapter 7 the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson using a di-electron final state is discussed, followed by the analysis of the final states using muons and hadronic decaying taus in Chapter 8. Finally a short outlook for the prospects of Higgs boson searches is given in Chapter 9.
We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson in final states with an electron or muon and a hadronically decaying tau lepton in association with zero, one, or two or more jets using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 7.3 fb−1 collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The analysis is sensitive to Higgs boson production via gluon gluon fusion, associated vector boson production, and vector boson fusion, and to Higgs boson decays to tau lepton pairs or W boson pairs. Observed (expected) limits are set on the ratio of 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching ratio, relative to those predicted by the Standard Model, of 14 (22) at a Higgs boson mass of 115 GeV and 7.7 (6.8) at 165 GeV.
The Standard Model has been a successful theory in various aspects. It predicted and led to discovery of many new particles, including the Higgs boson recently found, the last missing piece of the Standard Model. The Higgs mechanism allows the vector bosons and fermions to be massive via the electroweak symmetry breaking. This dissertation presents the search of the Standard Model Higgs through the decay products: one muon, one hadronically decaying tau, and two or more jets using the full 9.7 fb$^{-1}$ of Tevatron collider Run II data set collected in the Dzero detector at Fermilab. The main production channels are gluon-gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and Higgs production associated with a $W/Z$ boson. No evidence of the Standard Model Higgs boson is observed in these channels with hypothesized Higgs mass between 105 GeV and 150 GeV, but the data do not exclude it either. We set the upper limits on the ratio of the 95\% CL exclusion to the SM Higgs cross section. Combining with other analyses in Tevatron, the Higgs mass is ruled out at 95 % confidence level between 147 and 180 GeV, and a 2.9 $\sigma$ excess of events indicates a Higgs boson possibly lies in the mass range from 115 to 140 GeV.
