Search for the standard model Higgs boson produced through vector boson fusion and decaying tobb¯

Abstract

A first search is reported for a standard model Higgs boson (H) that is produced through vector boson fusion and decays to a bottom-quark pair. Two data samples, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.8 fb −1 and 18.3 fb −1 of proton-proton collisions at ffiffi ffi s p ¼ 8 TeV were selected for this channel at the CERN LHC. The observed significance in these data samples for a H → bb signal at a mass of 125 GeV is 2.2 standard deviations, while the expected significance is 0.8 standard deviations. The fitted signal strength μ ¼ σ=σ SM ¼ 2.8 þ1.6 −1.4 . The combination of this result with other CMS searches for the Higgs boson decaying to a b-quark pair yields a signal strength of 1.0 AE 0.4, corresponding to a signal significance of 2.6 standard deviations for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV.

Search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in vector boson fusion and decaying to bottom quarks using the Run1 and 2015 Run2 data samples

“…For a 125 GeV Higgs boson signal the observed 95% confidence level upper limit is 3.0 times the standard model expectation, compared to 5.0 expected in absence of a signal. The results are combined with the previous CMS search on the Run I proton-proton collision data at √ s = 8 TeV [14]. The combination is based on the likelihood ratio test statistics.…”

“…QCD processes have a strong color flow whilst VBF signal has a suppressed one. To discriminate between the signal and the QCD background soft tracks multiplicity is used as a discriminating variable [6,7].…”

“…At LHC a search for the Higgs boson in the most abundant production channel Gluon Fusion (GF) is not pursuable in proton-proton collisions due to overwhelming QCD background. Thus Vector Boson fusion (VBF), the production channel with the second largest cross section and a distinct topology, is the one exploited in the analysis presented here [6,7]. In the VBF process a quark of each one of the colliding protons radiates a W or Z boson that subsequently interacts or fuses.…”

Searching for the standard model Higgs boson produced by vector boson fusion in the fully hadronic four-jet topology with CMS

“…To discriminate between the signal and the QCD background multiplicity of soft track is used as a discriminating variable [10,11].…”

“…The vector boson fusion (VBF) production channel has the second largest cross section and a distinct topology that makes such a search possible. Here a search for the Higgs boson in VBF production channel with the CMS experiment [9] is presented [10,11]. In the VBF production channel weak bosons radiated by quarks from the colliding protons interact producing the Higgs boson that subsequently decays to a pair of bottom quarks.…”