Measurements of WH and ZH production in the $$H \rightarrow b\bar{b}$$ decay channel in pp collisions at $$13\,\text {Te}\text {V}$$ with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

Measurements of the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into a $$b\bar{b}$$ b b ¯ pair and produced in association with a W or Z boson decaying into leptons, using proton–proton collision data collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS detector, are presented. The measurements use collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of $$\sqrt{s} = 13\,\text {Te}\text {V}$$ s = 13 Te , corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $$139\,\mathrm {fb}^{-1}$$ 139 fb - 1 . The production of a Higgs boson in association with a W or Z boson is established with observed (expected) significances of 4.0 (4.1) and 5.3 (5.1) standard deviations, respectively. Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into bottom quark pairs with an electroweak gauge boson, W or Z, decaying into leptons are measured as a function of the gauge boson transverse momentum in kinematic fiducial volumes. The cross-section measurements are all consistent with the Standard Model expectations, and the total uncertainties vary from 30% in the high gauge boson transverse momentum regions to 85% in the low regions. Limits are subsequently set on the parameters of an effective Lagrangian sensitive to modifications of the WH and ZH processes as well as the Higgs boson decay into $$b\bar{b}$$ b b ¯ .

The forgotten channels: charged Higgs boson decays to a W± and a non-SM-like Higgs boson

“…• and agreement with the Higgs signal measurements using HiggsSignals-2.6.0 [86][87][88][89], which incorporates the combined LHC Run-1 results [4] as well as the latest Run-2 Higgs measurements by the ATLAS [90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98] and CMS [99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110] collaborations.…”

Combined SMEFT interpretation of Higgs, diboson, and top quark data from the LHC

“…We note that additional Higgs production and decay measurements have been recently presented by ATLAS and CMS based on the full Run II luminosity of L = 139 fb −1 . Two examples of these are the CMS measurement of the p h T distribution in the h → W W fully leptonic final state [126] and the updated ATLAS measurement of V h associated production in the b b final state [127]. These measurements are however not expected to modify significantly the results of the present analysis, since the constraints they provide on the EFT parameter space are already covered by other measurements, and their inclusion is left for future work.…”

Tagging the Higgs boson decay to bottom quarks with colour-sensitive observables and the Lund jet plane

“…In this regard, one of the most interesting processes is the associated production of a Higgs boson H and a vector boson V (W or Z), with the vector boson decaying leptonically and the Higgs boson decaying hadronically into a pair of b-quarks, V (l l)H(b b): the decay products of the vector boson provide us with a clean experimental signature, as well as a recoil system for the Higgs particle. Both ATLAS and CMS experiments have reported the observation of the H → bb decay and of the V H production mode [3,4] and the ATLAS experiment reported the first cross-section measurements [5][6][7][8] targeting different regimes of reconstructed transverse momenta of the vector boson and in fiducial volumes, as defined by the simplified template cross-section framework [9]. The experimental focus is therefore shifting towards precision measurements of the kinematics of the H → bb decay channel and, as suggested in Ref.…”