Measurements of the inclusive and differential fiducial cross sections of the Higgs boson are presented, using the $\tau$ lepton decay channel. The differential cross sections are measured as functions of the Higgs boson transverse momentum, jet multiplicity, and transverse momentum of the leading jet in the event if any. The analysis is performed using proton-proton data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. These are the first differential measurements of the Higgs boson cross section in the final state of two $\tau$ leptons, and they constitute a significant improvement over measurements in other final states in events with a large jet multiplicity or with a Lorentz-boosted Higgs boson.
The fiducial differential signal strength and cross section in each Higgs pT bin. Both the unregularized and regularized signal strengths are given; they do not include uncertainties in the SM signal normalization. The fiducial cross section and its full uncertainty in each bin are also given. The last bin is inclusive.
The fiducial differential signal strength and cross section in each jet multiplicity bin. Both the unregularized and regularized signal strengths are given; they do not include uncertainties in the SM signal normalization. The fiducial cross section and its full uncertainty in each bin are also given. The last bin is inclusive.
The fiducial differential signal strength and cross section in each leading jet pT bin. Both the unregularized and regularized signal strengths are given; they do not include uncertainties in the SM signal normalization. The fiducial cross section and its full uncertainty in each bin are also given. The last bin is inclusive.
A search is presented for lepton-flavor violating decays of the Higgs boson to $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau$. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ collected at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excess has been found, and the results are interpreted in terms of upper limits on lepton-flavor violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limits on the branching fractions are, respectively, $\mathcal{B}($H $\to\mu\tau)$$\lt$ 0.15 (0.15)% and $\mathcal{B}($H$\to$e$\tau)$ $\lt$ 0.22 (0.16)% at 95% confidence level.
Observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on $B(H\to\mu\tau)$ for each individual category and combined
Observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on $B(H\to e\tau)$ for each individual category and combined
Summary of observed and expected upper limits at 95% CL, best fit branching fractions and corresponding constraints on Yukawa couplings for the $H\to\mu\tau$ and $H\to e\tau$ channels
A search for the Higgs boson decaying into a photon and a pair of electrons or muons with an invariant mass $m_{\ell\ell} < 30$ GeV is presented. The analysis is performed using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data, produced by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment. Evidence for the $H \rightarrow \ell \ell \gamma$ process is found with a significance of 3.2$\sigma$ over the background-only hypothesis, compared to an expected significance of 2.1$\sigma$. The best-fit value of the signal strength parameter, defined as the ratio of the observed signal yield to the one expected in the Standard Model, is $\mu = 1.5 \pm 0.5$. The Higgs boson production cross-section times the $H \rightarrow\ell\ell\gamma$ branching ratio for $m_{\ell\ell} <$ 30 GeV is determined to be 8.7 $^{+2.8}_{-2.7}$ fb.
Number of data events selected in each analysis category in the $m_{\ell\ell\gamma}$ mass range of 110--160 GeV. In addition, the following numbers are given: number of $H\rightarrow\gamma^{*}\gamma\rightarrow \ell\ell\gamma$ events in the smallest $m_{\ell\ell\gamma}$ window containing 90\% of the expected signal ($S_{90}$), the non-resonant background in the same interval ($B_{90}^N$) as estimated from fits to the data sidebands using the background models, the resonant background in the same interval ($B_{H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma}$), the expected signal purity $f_{90} = S_{90}/(S_{90}+B_{90})$, and the expected significance estimate defined as $Z_{90} = \sqrt{ 2( (S_{90}+B_{90})\,\ln(1+S_{90}/B_{90}) - S_{90}) }$ where $B_{90} = B_{90}^N+B_{H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma}$. $B_{H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma}$ is only relevant for the electron categories and is marked as 0 otherwise
The best fit value for the signal yield normalised to the Standard Model prediction (signal strength) for $pp \to H \to Z+\gamma$
Measured $\sigma( p p \rightarrow H) \cdot B(H\rightarrow \ell\ell\gamma)$ for $m_{\ell\ell} < 30$ GeV
A search is presented for a heavy vector resonance decaying into a Z boson and the standard model Higgs boson, where the Z boson is identified through its leptonic decays to electrons, muons, or neutrinos, and the Higgs boson is identified through its hadronic decays. The search is performed in a Lorentz-boosted regime and is based on data collected from 2016 to 2018 at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. Upper limits are derived on the production of a narrow heavy resonance Z', and a mass below 3.5 and 3.7 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level in models where the heavy vector boson couples exclusively to fermions and to bosons, respectively. These are the most stringent limits placed on the Heavy Vector Triplet Z' model to date. If the heavy vector boson couples exclusively to standard model bosons, upper limits on the product of the cross section and branching fraction are set between 23 and 0.3 fb for a Z' mass between 0.8 and 4.6 TeV, respectively. This is the first limit set on a heavy vector boson coupling exclusively to standard model bosons in its production and decay.
The product of signal acceptance and efficiency in the 0l categories for the signal produced via qqbar annihilation.
The product of signal acceptance and efficiency in the 2l categories for the signal produced via qqbar annihilation.
The product of signal acceptance and efficiency in the 0l categories for the signal produced via vector boson fusion.
A search for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of $Z$ bosons leading to $\ell^+\ell^-\ell'^+\ell'^-$ and $\ell^+\ell^-\nu\bar\nu$ final states, where $\ell$ stands for either an electron or a muon, is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected from 2015 to 2018 that corresponds to the full integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. Different mass ranges spanning 200 GeV to 2000 GeV for the hypothetical resonances are considered, depending on the final state and model. In the absence of a significant observed excess, the results are interpreted as upper limits on the production cross section of a spin-0 or spin-2 resonance. The upper limits for the spin-0 resonance are translated to exclusion contours in the context of Type-I and Type-II two-Higgs-doublet models, and the limits for the spin-2 resonance are used to constrain the Randall--Sundrum model with an extra dimension giving rise to spin-2 graviton excitations.
Distribution of the four-lepton invariant mass in the four-lepton final state for the ggF-MVA-high 4-muon category.
Distribution of the four-lepton invariant mass in the four-lepton final state for the ggF-MVA-high 2e2mu category.
Distribution of the four-lepton invariant mass in the four-lepton final state for the ggF-MVA-high 4-electron category.
The associated production of a Higgs boson with a $W$ or $Z$ boson decaying into leptons and where the Higgs boson decays to a $b\bar{b}$ pair is measured in the high vector-boson transverse momentum regime, above 250 GeV, with the ATLAS detector. The analysed data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$, were collected in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The measured signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured signal yield to that predicted by the Standard Model, is $0.72 ^{+0.39}_{-0.36}$ corresponding to an observed (expected) significance of 2.1 (2.7) standard deviations. Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into $b$ quark pairs with a $W$ or $Z$ gauge boson, decaying into leptons, are measured in two exclusive vector boson transverse momentum regions, 250-400 GeV and above 400 GeV, and interpreted as constraints on anomalous couplings in the framework of a Standard Model effective field theory.
Observed correlations between the measured reduced stage-1.2 simplified template VH, V->leptons and H->bb cross sections, including both the statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Measured and predicted VH, V->leptons reduced stage-1.2 simplified template cross sections times the H->bb and V->leptons branching fractions with corresponding uncertainties. All possible Z decays into neutral and charged leptons are considered.
Linear combinations of Wilson coefficients corresponding to the principal component decomposition eigenvectors. The corresponding eigenvalues, representing in the gaussian approximation the inverse uncertainty square of the measured eigenvector, is also indicated.
In this paper, a new technique for reconstructing and identifying hadronically decaying $\tau^+\tau^-$ pairs with a large Lorentz boost, referred to as the di-$\tau$ tagger, is developed and used for the first time in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. A benchmark di-$\tau$ tagging selection is employed in the search for resonant Higgs boson pair production, where one Higgs boson decays into a boosted $b\bar{b}$ pair and the other into a boosted $\tau^+\tau^-$ pair, with two hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons in the final state. Using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton$-$proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, the efficiency of the di-$\tau$ tagger is determined and the background with quark- or gluon-initiated jets misidentified as di-$\tau$ objects is estimated. The search for a heavy, narrow, scalar resonance produced via gluon$-$gluon fusion and decaying into two Higgs bosons is carried out in the mass range 1$-$3 TeV using the same dataset. No deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed, and 95% confidence-level exclusion limits are set on this model.
Signal acceptance times selection efficiency as a function of the resonance mass, at various stages of the event selection. From top to bottom: an event pre-selection (trigger, object definitions and $E_{T}^{miss}>10$ GeV) is performed first; the requirements on the di-$\tau$ object and large-$R$ jet detailed in the text are then applied; finally, the $HH$ SR definition must be satisfied.
Distribution of $m^{vis}_{HH}$ after applying all the event selection that define the $HH$ SR, except the requirement on $m^{vis}_{HH}$. The background labelled as "Others" contains $W$+jets, diboson, $t\bar{t}$ and single-top-quark processes. The $X\rightarrow HH \rightarrow b\bar{b}\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ signal is overlaid for two resonance mass hypotheses with a cross-section set to the expected limit, while all backgrounds are pre-fit. The first and the last bins contains the under-flow and over-flow bin entries, respectively. The hatched bands represent combined statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Event yields of the various estimated backgrounds and data, computed in the signal region of the search for $X\rightarrow HH \rightarrow b\bar{b}\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$. The background labelled as "Others" contains $W$+jets, diboson, $t\bar{t}$ and single-top-quark processes. Statistical and systematic uncertainties are quoted. The background yields and uncertainties are pre-fit and are found to be similar to those post-fit.
Measurements of the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into a $b\bar{b}$ 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} = $13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-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 $b\bar{b}$.
Best-fit values and uncertainties for $VH, V\rightarrow\mathrm{leptons}$ for the cross-section times the $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ branching fraction, in the reduced stage-1.2 simplififed template cross-sections (STXS) scheme. The SM predictions for each region is also shown. They are obtained from the samples of simulated events scaled to the inclusive cross-sections calculated at NNLO(QCD)+NLO(EW) accuracy for the $qq\rightarrow WH$ and $qq\rightarrow ZH$ processes, and at NLO+NLL accuracy for the $gg\rightarrow ZH$ process. The contributions to the total uncertainty in the measurements from statistical (Stat.) or systematic uncertainties in the signal modelling (Th. sig.), background modelling (Th. bkg.) and in experimental performance (Exp.) are given separately. All leptonic decays of the $V$ bosons (including those to $\tau$ leptons, $\ell = e, \mu, \tau$) are considered.
Observed correlations between the measured reduced stage-1.2 simplified template $VH, H \rightarrow b\bar{b}$ cross-sections (STXS), including both the statistical and systematic uncertainties. All leptonic decays of the $V$ bosons (including those to $\tau$ leptons, $\ell = e, \mu, \tau$) are considered.
Linear combination of Wilson coefficients corresponding to SMEFT operators in the Warsaw basis for which this analysis provides orthogonal constraints (eigenvectors). Eigenvalues are shown for each eigenvector, which provides a measure of the experimental sensitivity to that linear combination. The modifications to the $qq\rightarrow ZH$ and $qq\rightarrow WH$ processes due to SMEFT operators are computed at LO, and changes to the $gg\rightarrow ZH$ process are neglected.
Measurement of the fiducial inclusive and differential production cross sections of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV are performed using events where the Higgs boson decays into a pair of W bosons that subsequently decay into a final state with an electron, a muon, and a pair of neutrinos. The analysis is based on data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC during 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. Production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the Higgs boson and the associated jet multiplicity. The Higgs boson signal is extracted and simultaneously unfolded to correct for selection efficiency and resolution effects using maximum-likelihood fits to the observed distributions in data. The integrated fiducial cross section is measured to be 86.5 $\pm$ 9.5 fb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 82.5 $\pm$ 4.2 fb. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectations is observed in the differential measurements.
The fiducial differential signal strength and cross section in each Higgs pT bin. Both the unregularized and regularized signal strengthes are given. For the regularized case the uncertainty breakdown is given in terms of statistical (stat), experimental (exp), theoretical uncertainties on the background (bkg) and on the signal (sig), and the luminosity uncertainty (lumi). The regularization estimated bias (bias) is also given. The fiducial cross section and its full uncertainty in each bin are also given. The last bin is inclusive.
The correlation matrix for the ptH measurements, both for the unregularized and regularized fits. The last bin is inclusive.
The fiducial differential signal strength and cross section in each njet bin. The uncertainty breakdown is given in terms of statistical (stat), experimental (exp), theoretical uncertainties on the background (bkg) and on the signal (sig), and the luminosity uncertainty (lumi). The fiducial cross section and its full uncertainty in each bin are also given. The last bin is inclusive.
This paper describes a search for beyond the Standard Model decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of new spin-0 particles subsequently decaying into $b$-quark pairs, $H \rightarrow aa \rightarrow (b\bar{b})(b\bar{b})$, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. This search focuses on the regime where the decay products are collimated and in the range $15 \leq m_a \leq 30$ GeV and is complementary to a previous search in the same final state targeting the regime where the decay products are well separated and in the range $20 \leq m_a \leq 60$ GeV. A novel strategy for the identification of the $a \rightarrow b\bar{b}$ decays is deployed to enhance the efficiency for topologies with small separation angles. The search is performed with 36 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected in 2015 and 2016 and sets upper limits on the production cross-section of $H \rightarrow aa \rightarrow (b\bar{b})(b\bar{b})$, where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a $Z$ boson.
Summary of the 95% CL upper limits on $\sigma_{ZH} BR(H\rightarrow aa \rightarrow (b\bar{b})(b\bar{b}))$. Both observed and expected limits are listed. In the case of the expected limits, one- and two-standard-deviation uncertainty bands are also listed.
Summary of the 95% C.L. upper limits on $\sigma_{ZH} BR(H\rightarrow aa \rightarrow (b\bar{b})(b\bar{b}))$ for the dilepton channel in the resolved analysis. The observed limits are shown, together with the expected limits (dotted black lines). In the case of the expected limits, one- and two-standard-deviation uncertainty bands are also displayed. The data was published in JHEP 10 (2018) 031.
Efficiency and acceptance for simulated $ZH(\rightarrow aa\rightarrow (b\bar{b})(b\bar{b}))$ samples in two signal regions (SR) of the analysis, one with two $a\to b\bar{b}$ candidates in the High Purity Category (HPC), and the other with one $a\to b\bar{b}$ candidate in the High Purity Category (HPC) and one in the Low Purity Category (LPC).