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 lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson in the $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau$ decay modes is presented. The search is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector in 2016, at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excess over the standard model expectation is observed. The observed (expected) upper limits on the lepton flavour violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson are $\mathcal{B}$(H$\to\mu\tau$) < 0.25% (0.25%) and $\mathcal{B}$(H$\to$e$\tau$) < 0.61% (0.37%), at 95% confidence level. These results are used to derive upper limits on the off-diagonal $\mu\tau$ and e$\tau$ Yukawa couplings $\sqrt{|{Y_{\mu\tau}}|^{2}+|{Y_{\tau\mu}}|^{2}} < 1.43 \times 10^{-3}$ and $\sqrt{|{Y_{\mathrm{e}\tau}}|^{2}+|{Y_{\tau\mathrm{e}}}|^{2}} < 2.26 \times 10^{-3}$ at 95% confidence level. The limits on the lepton flavour violating branching fractions of the Higgs boson and on the associated Yukawa couplings are the most stringent to date.
Expected and observed 95 percent CL upper limits on BR(H to mu tau) for each individual category and combined from BDT fit analysis
Expected and observed 95 percent CL upper limits on BR(H to mu tau) for each individual category and combined from collinear mass fit analysis
Expected and observed 95 percent CL upper limits on BR(H to e tau) for each individual category and combined from BDT fit analysis
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