This thesis presents a study of the scalar sector in the standard model (SM), as well as various searches for an extended scalar sector in theories beyond the SM (BSM). The first part of the thesis details the search for an SM Higgs boson decaying to taus, and produced by gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, or associated production with a vector boson, leading to evidence for decays of the Higgs boson to taus. In turn, the second part highlights several searches for an extended scalar sector, with scalar boson decays to taus. In all of the analyses presented, at least one scalar boson decays to a pair of taus. The results draw on data collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector during proton–proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 7 or 8 TeV.
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.
The latest of the 'Lepton Photon' symposium, one of the well-established series of meetings in the high-energy physics community, was successfully organized at the South Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, from August 7-12, 2017, where physicists around the world gathered to discuss the latest advancements in the research field.This proceedings volume of the Lepton Photon 2017 collects contributions by the plenary session speakers and the posters' presenters, which cover the latest results in particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and plans for future facilities.
This thesis presents innovative contributions to the CMS experiment in the new trigger system for the restart of the LHC collisions in Run II, as well as original analysis methods and important results that led to official publications of the Collaboration. The author's novel reconstruction algorithms, deployed on the Field-Programmable Gate Arrays of the new CMS trigger architecture, have brought a gain of over a factor 2 in efficiency for the identification of tau leptons, with a very significant impact on important H boson measurements, such as its decays to tau lepton pairs and the search for H boson pair production. He also describes a novel analysis of HH → bb tautau, a high priority physics topic in a difficult channel. The original strategy, optimisation of event categories, and the control of the background have made the result one of the most sensitive concerning the self-coupling of the Higgs boson among all possible channels at the LHC.
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The work presented in this thesis spans a wide range of experimental particle physics subjects, starting from level-1 trigger electronics to the final results of the search for Higgs boson decay and to tau lepton pairs. The thesis describes an innovative reconstruction algorithm for tau decays and details how it was instrumental in providing a measurement of Z decay to tau lepton pairs. The reliability of the analysis is fully established by this measurement before the Higgs boson decay to tau lepton pairs is considered. The work described here continues to serve as a model for analysing CMS Higgs to tau leptons measurements.
The book gives a quite complete and up-to-date picture of the Standard Theory with an historical perspective, with a collection of articles written by some of the protagonists of present particle physics. The theoretical developments are described together with the most up-to-date experimental tests, including the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the measurement of its mass as well as the most precise measurements of the top mass, giving the reader a complete description of our present understanding of particle physics.
In this work, the interaction between the Higgs boson and the top quark is studied with the proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV provided by the LHC at the CMS detector at CERN (Geneva). At the LHC, these particles are produced simultaneously via the associate production of the Higgs boson with one top quark (tH process) or two top quarks (ttH process). Compared to many other possible outcomes of the proton-proton interactions, these processes are very rare, as the top quark and the Higgs boson are the heaviest elementary particles known. Hence, identifying them constitutes a significant experimental challenge. A high particle selection efficiency in the CMS detector is therefore crucial. At the core of this selection stands the Level-1 (L1) trigger system, a system that filters collision events to retain only those with potential interest for physics analysis. The selection of hadronically decaying τ leptons, expected from the Higgs boson decays, is especially demanding due to the large background arising from the QCD interactions. The first part of this thesis presents the optimization of the L1 τ algorithm in Run 2 (2016-2018) and Run 3 (2022-2024) of the LHC. It includes the development of a novel trigger concept for the High-Luminosity LHC, foreseen to start in 2027 and to deliver 5 times the current instantaneous luminosity. To this end, sophisticated algorithms based on machine learning approaches are used, facilitated by the increasingly modern technology and powerful computation of the trigger system. The second part of the work presents the search of the tH and ttH processes with the subsequent decays of the Higgs boson to pairs of τ lepton, W bosons or Z bosons, making use of the data recorded during Run 2. The presence of multiple particles in the final state, along with the low cross section of the processes, makes the search an ideal use case for multivariant discriminants that enhance the selectivity of the signals and reject the overwhelming background contributions. The discriminants presented are built using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, able to capture the correlations amongst the processes involved, as well as the so-called Matrix Element Method (MEM), which combines the theoretical description of the processes with the detector resolution effects. The level of sophistication of the methods used, along with the unprecedented amount of collision data analyzed, result in the most stringent measurements of the tH and ttH cross sections up to date.
This book provides a general description of the search for and discovery of the Higgs boson (particle) at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The goal is to provide a relatively brief overview of the issues, instruments and techniques relevant for this search; written by a physicist who was directly involved. The Higgs boson mat be the one particle that was studied the most before its discovery and the story from postulation in 1964 to detection in 2012 is a fascinating one. The story is told here while detailing the fundamentals of particle physics.
These proceedings gather invited and contributed talks presented at the XXI DAE-BRNS High Energy Physics Symposium, which was held at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in December 2014. The contributions cover many of the most active research areas in particle physics, namely (i) Electroweak Physics; (ii) QCD and Heavy Ion Physics; (iii) Heavy Flavour Physics and CP Violation; (iv) Neutrino Physics; (v) Astro-particle Physics and Cosmology; (vi) Formal Theory; (vii) Future Colliders and New Machines; and (viii) BSM Physics: SUSY, Extra Dimensions, Composites etc. The DAE-BRNS High Energy Physics Symposium, widely considered to be one of the premiere symposiums organised in India in the field of elementary particle physics, is held every other year and supported by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Department of Atomic Energy, India. Roughly 250 physicists and researchers participated in the 21st Symposium, discussing the latest advancements in the field in 18 plenary review talks, 15 invited mini-review talks and approximately 130 contributed presentations. Bringing together the essential content, the book offers a valuable resource for both beginning and advanced researchers in the field.
