Search for the Higgs Boson Produced in Association with Top Quarks with the CMS Detector at the LHC

Search for the Higgs Boson Produced in Association with Top Quarks with the CMS Detector at the LHC

Author: Cristina Martin Perez

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-02-09

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 3030902064

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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.


Searches for Supersymmetric Particles in Final States with Multiple Top and Bottom Quarks with the Atlas Detector

Searches for Supersymmetric Particles in Final States with Multiple Top and Bottom Quarks with the Atlas Detector

Author: Chiara Rizzi

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 3030528774

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This PhD thesis documents two of the highest-profile searches for supersymmetry performed at the ATLAS experiment using up to 80/fb of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV delivered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during its Run 2 (2015-2018). The signals of interest feature a high multiplicity of jets originating from the hadronisation of b-quarks and large missing transverse momentum, which constitutes one of the most promising final state signatures for discovery of new phenomena at the LHC. The first search is focused on the strong production of a pair of gluinos, with each gluino decaying into a neutralino and a top-antitop-quark pair or a bottom-antibottom-quark pair. The second search targets the pair production of higgsinos, with each higgsino decaying into a gravitino and a Higgs boson, which in turn is required to decay into a bottom-antibottom-quark pair. Both searches employ state-of-the-art experimental techniques and analysis strategies at the LHC, resulting in some of the most restrictive bounds available to date on the masses of the gluino,neutralino, and higgsino in the context of the models explored.


Search for New Physics in Mono-jet Final States in pp Collisions

Search for New Physics in Mono-jet Final States in pp Collisions

Author: Giuliano Gustavino

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-06-19

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 3319588710

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This thesis provides a detailed and comprehensive description of the search for New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the mono-jet final state, using the first 3.2 fb-1 of data collected at the centre of mass energy of colliding protons of 13~TeV recorded in the ATLAS experiment at LHC. The results are interpreted as limits in different theoretical contexts such as compressed supersymmetric models, theories that foresee extra-spatial dimensions and in the dark matter scenario. In the latter the limits are then compared with those obtained by other ATLAS analyses and by experiments based on completely different experimental techniques, highlighting the role of the mono-jet results in the context of dark matter searches.Lastly, a set of possible analysis improvements are proposed to reduce the main uncertainties that affect the signal region and to increase the discovery potential by further exploiting the information on the final state.


The Higgs Boson Produced With Top Quarks in Fully Hadronic Signatures

The Higgs Boson Produced With Top Quarks in Fully Hadronic Signatures

Author: Daniel Salerno

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-10-25

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 3030312577

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The work presented in this PhD dissertation is the first search at CMS for Higgs bosons produced in association with top quarks (ttH) in a final state consisting of only jets. The results presented in this book uncover a new class of ttH events that will help us elucidate our understanding of the Yukawa sector interactions between the Higgs boson and the top quark. Despite this being the most common decay signature for ttH, a large contamination of SM backgrounds makes it the most challenging for extracting a signal from data. The PhD thesis presents many sophisticated tools and techniques that were developed in order to overcome these challenges. These tools pave the way for future analyses to investigate other standard model and beyond-standard model physics.


A Beauty-ful Boson

A Beauty-ful Boson

Author: Giulia Di Gregorio

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-01

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 3031200136

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The analysis described in this thesis is the search for the Higgs boson, decaying into bb pair, in the associated production with a vector boson, in the extreme Higgs boson transverse momentum region where the Higgs boson is reconstructed using the large-R jet technique. The use of the large-R jets allows to add a part of the phase space unexplored so far, which is particularly sensitive to possible new physics. The analysed data have been collected at LHC by the ATLAS detector between 2015 and 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV. The same dataset has been used to perform the differential pp → ZH and pp → WH cross-section measurements used to extract the information on the Higgs couplings and to put limits on Beyond the Standard Model effects. Furthermore the analysis has been re-used to perform a cross-section measurement of the diboson ZZ and WZ processes because the diboson and the Higgs processes have a similar topology. For the first time the ZZ(bb) and WZ(bb) cross-sections are measured at √s = 13 TeV and the observed cross-section measurements are consistent with the Standard Model predictions.


Search for the Higgs Boson in the Vector Boson Fusion Channel at the ATLAS Detector

Search for the Higgs Boson in the Vector Boson Fusion Channel at the ATLAS Detector

Author: Eric Ouellette

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-01-20

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 3319135996

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This Thesis describes the first measurement of, and constraints on, Higgs boson production in the vector boson fusion mode, where the Higgs decays to b quarks (the most common decay channel), at the LHC. The vector boson fusion mode, in which the Higgs is produced simultaneously with a pair of quark jets, provides an unparalleled opportunity to study the detailed properties of the Higgs, including the possibility of parity and CP violation, as well as its couplings and mass. It thus opens up this new field of study for precision investigation as the LHC increases in energy and intensity, leading the way to this new and exciting arena of precision Higgs research.


Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson in the H → ZZ → l + l - qq Decay Channel at CMS

Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson in the H → ZZ → l + l - qq Decay Channel at CMS

Author: Francesco Pandolfi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-08-15

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 3319009036

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The theoretical foundations of the Standard Model of elementary particles relies on the existence of the Higgs boson, a particle which has been revealed for the first time by the experiments run at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012. As the Higgs boson is an unstable particle, its search strategies were based on its decay products. In this thesis, Francesco Pandolfi conducted a search for the Higgs boson in the H → ZZ → l + l - qq Decay Channel with 4.6 fb -1 of 7 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment. The presence of jets in the final state poses a series of challenges to the experimenter: both from a technical point of view, as jets are complex objects and necessitate of ad-hoc reconstruction techniques, and from an analytical one, as backgrounds with jets are copious at hadron colliders, therefore analyses must obtain high degrees of background rejection in order to achieve competitive sensitivity. This is accomplished by following two directives: the use of an angular likelihood discriminant, capable of discriminating events likely to originate from the decay of a scalar boson from non-resonant backgrounds, and by using jet parton flavor tagging, selecting jets compatible with quark hadronization and discarding jets more likely to be initiated by gluons. The events passing the selection requirements in 4.6 fb -1 of data collected by the CMS detector are examined, in the search of a possible signal compatible with the decay of a heavy Higgs boson. The thesis describes the statistical tools and the results of this analysis. This work is a paradigm for studies of the Higgs boson with final states with jets. The non-expert physicists will enjoy a complete and eminently readable description of a proton-proton collider analysis. At the same time, the expert reader will learn the details of the searches done with jets at CMS.


The Beauty and the Boost: A Higgs Boson Tale

The Beauty and the Boost: A Higgs Boson Tale

Author: Brian Moser

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-09-19

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 3031394429

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Precision measurements of the Higgs boson’s properties are a powerful tool to look for deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. The 139/fb of proton-proton collision data which have been collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 of the LHC, offer an opportunity to investigate rare Higgs-boson topologies, which are particularly sensitive to new physics scenarios but experimentally difficult to access. Several such measurements, which target Higgs-boson decays to heavy-flavour quarks, as well as their combinations are presented in this thesis. A novel analysis that measures Higgs-boson production in association with a heavy vector boson V (VH, with V=W,Z) at high energies is presented. Dedicated Higgs-boson reconstruction techniques are applied to reconstruct the highly Lorentz-boosted Higgs-boson decays into pairs of bottom quarks. The measurement is subsequently combined with a VH cross-section measurement at low and intermediate pT(V) to provide a differential cross-section measurement in kinematic fiducial volumes over the largest possible pT(V) range. All cross-section measurements agree with the SM predictions within relative uncertainties that range from 30% to 300%. The results are furthermore interpreted as limits on the parameters of a SM effective field theory. Finally, a combination of measurements of Higgs decays to heavy-flavour quarks is used to experimentally determine that the Higgs-boson coupling to charm quarks is weaker than to bottom quarks, as predicted by the SM. The target audience for the thesis are physicists and physics students, in particular those with a background in high energy physics.


ATLAS Measurements of the Higgs Boson Coupling to the Top Quark in the Higgs to Diphoton Decay Channel

ATLAS Measurements of the Higgs Boson Coupling to the Top Quark in the Higgs to Diphoton Decay Channel

Author: Jennet Elizabeth Dickinson

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-16

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 3030863689

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During Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, the ATLAS experiment recorded proton-proton collision events at 13 TeV, the highest energy ever achieved in a collider. Analysis of this dataset has provided new opportunities for precision measurements of the Higgs boson, including its interaction with the top quark. The Higgs-top coupling can be directly probed through the production of a Higgs boson in association with a top-antitop quark pair (ttH). The Higgs to diphoton decay channel is among the most sensitive for ttH measurements due to the excellent diphoton mass resolution of the ATLAS detector and the clean signature of this decay. Event selection criteria were developed using novel Machine Learning techniques to target ttH events, yielding a precise measurement of the ttH cross section in the diphoton channel and a 6.3 $\sigma$ observation of the ttH process in combination with other decay channels, as well as stringent limits on CP violation in the Higgs-top coupling.