The observation of Higgs boson production in association with a top quark-antiquark pair is reported, based on a combined analysis of proton-proton collision data at center-of-mass energies of $\sqrt{s}=$ 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1, 19.7, and 35.9 fb$^{-1}$, respectively. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The results of statistically independent searches for Higgs bosons produced in conjunction with a top quark-antiquark pair and decaying to pairs of W bosons, Z bosons, photons, $\tau$ leptons, or bottom quark jets are combined to maximize sensitivity. An excess of events is observed, with a significance of 5.2 standard deviations, over the expectation from the background-only hypothesis. The corresponding expected significance from the standard model for a Higgs boson mass of 125.09 GeV is 4.2 standard deviations. The combined best fit signal strength normalized to the standard model prediction is 1.26 ${^{+0.31}_{-0.26}}$.
Best fit value of the ttH signal strength modifier $\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$, with its 1 and 2 standard deviation confidence intervals ($\sigma$), for the five individual decay channels considered, the combined result for 7+8 TeV alone and for 13 TeV alone, and the overall combined result. The Higgs boson mass is taken to be 125.09 GeV. For the $\mathrm{H}\rightarrow\mathrm{ZZ}$ decay mode, $\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$ is constrained to be positive to prevent the corresponding event yield from becoming negative. The SM expectation is shown as a dashed vertical line.
Best fit value, with its uncertainty, of the ttH signal strength modifier $\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$, for the five individual decay channels considered, the combined result for 7+8 TeV alone and for 13 TeV alone, and the overall combined result. The total uncertainties are decomposed into their statistical (Stat), experimental systematic (Expt), background theory systematic (Thbgd), and signal theory systematic (Thsig) components.
Distribution of events as a function of the decimal logarithm of S/B, where S and B are the expected post-fit signal (with $\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$ = 1) and background yields, respectively, in each bin of the distributions considered in this combination. The shaded histogram shows the expected background distribution. The two hatched histograms, each stacked on top of the background histogram, show the signal expectation for the SM ($\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$ = 1) and the observed ($\mu_{\mathrm{ttH}}$ = 1.26) signal strengths.
A search is presented for the associated production of a Higgs boson with a top quark pair in the all-jet final state. Events containing seven or more jets are selected from a sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. To separate the $\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}$H signal from the irreducible $\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}+\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}$ background, the analysis assigns leading order matrix element signal and background probability densities to each event. A likelihood-ratio statistic based on these probability densities is used to extract the signal. The results are provided in terms of an observed $\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}$H signal strength relative to the standard model production cross section $\mu=\sigma/\sigma_\mathrm{SM}$, assuming a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV. The best fit value is $\hat{\mu} =$ 0.9 $\pm$ 0.7 (stat) $\pm$ 1.3 (syst) = 0.9 $\pm$ 1.5 (tot), and the observed and expected upper limits are, respectively, $\mu <$ 3.8 and $<$ 3.1 at 95% confidence levels.
Best fit values in the signal strength modifiers (mu), and their 68% CL intervals as split into the statistical and systematic components for each category and combinations of categories.
Values of log10(S/B), where S and B indicate the respective bin-by-bin yields of the signal and background expected in the MEM discriminant distributions, obtained from a combined fit with the constraint in the cross section of mu = 1.
Results of a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top quark pair ($\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H) in final states with electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying $\tau$ leptons are presented. The analyzed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$ recorded in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV by the CMS experiment in 2016. The sensitivity of the search is improved by using matrix element and machine learning methods to separate the signal from backgrounds. The measured signal rate amounts to 1.23 $^{+0.45}_{-0.43}$ times the production rate expected in the standard model, with an observed (expected) significance of 3.2$\sigma$ (2.8$\sigma$), which represents evidence for $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$H production in those final states. An upper limit on the signal rate of 2.1 times the standard model production rate is set at 95% confidence level.
Signal rates $\mu$, in units of the SM $\mathrm{t\overline(t}H}$ production rate, measured in each of the categories individually and for the combination of all six categories. The blue (green) band corresponds to the statistical (total) uncertainty on the combined signal rate.
Forum