Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to bottom quarks in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Authors

CMS Collaboration
Ekaterina Avdeeva, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kenneth A. Bloom, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
S. Bose, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jamila Butt, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Daniel R. Claes, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Aaron Dominguez, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Michael Eads, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
P. Jindal, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Keller, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Ilya Kravchenko, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
J. Lazo-Flores, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
H. Malbouisson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Sudhir Malik, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Gregory Snow, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2012

Citation

Physics Letters B 710 (2012) 284–306; doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2012.02.085

Abstract

A search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) decaying to bb̅ when produced in association with weak vector bosons (V) is reported for the following modes: W(μν)H, W(eν)H, Z(μμ)H, Z(ee)H and Z(νν)H. The search is performed in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb⁻¹, recorded by the CMS detector in proton–proton collisions at the LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No significant excess of events above the expectation from background is observed. Upper limits on the V H production cross section times the H→bb̅ branching ratio, with respect to the expectations for a standard model Higgs boson, are derived for a Higgs boson in the mass range 110–135 GeV. In this range, the observed 95% confidence level upper limits vary from 3.4 to 7.5 times the standard model prediction; the corresponding expected limits vary from 2.7 to 6.7 times the standard model prediction.