The observation of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson decay to a pair of bottom quarks is presented. The main contribution to this result is from processes in which Higgs bosons are produced in association with a W or Z boson (VH), and are searched for in final states including 0, 1, or 2 charged leptons and two identified bottom quark jets. The results from the measurement of these processes in a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment in 2017, comprising 41.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, are described. When combined with previous VH measurements using data collected at $\sqrt{s}=$ 7, 8, and 13 TeV, an excess of events is observed at $m_\mathrm{H} =$ 125.09 GeV with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations, where the expectation for the SM Higgs boson is 4.9. The corresponding measured signal strength is 1.01 $\pm$ 0.22. The combination of this result with searches by the CMS experiment for H $\to\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$ in other production processes yields an observed (expected) significance of 5.6 (5.5) standard deviations and a signal strength of 1.04 $\pm$ 0.20.
A search for neutral Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) decaying to tau-lepton pairs in pp collisions is performed, using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 24.6 fb$^{-1}$, with 4.9 fb$^{-1}$ at 7 TeV and 19.7 fb$^{-1}$ at 8 TeV. To enhance the sensitivity to neutral MSSM Higgs bosons, the search includes the case where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a b-quark jet. No excess is observed in the tau-lepton-pair invariant mass spectrum. Exclusion limits are presented in the MSSM parameter space for different benchmark scenarios, $m_\mathrm{h}^\text{max}$, $m_\mathrm{h}^{\text{mod}+}$, $m_\mathrm{h}^{\text{mod}-}$, light-stop, light-stau, $\tau$-phobic, and low-$m_\mathrm{H}$. Upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction for gluon fusion and b-quark associated Higgs boson production are also given.
A measurement is presented of differential cross sections for the Higgs boson (H) production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The analysis exploits the H to gamma gamma decay in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross section is measured as a function of the kinematic properties of the diphoton system and of the associated jets. Results corrected for detector effects are compared with predictions at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as with predictions beyond the standard model. For isolated photons with pseudorapidities abs(eta) < 2.5, and with the photon of largest and next-to-largest transverse momentum (pt[gamma]) divided by the diphoton mass m[gamma-gamma] satisfying the respective conditions of pt[gamma] / m[gamma-gamma] > 1/3 and > 1/4, the total fiducial cross section is 32 +/- 10 fb.
A search for a heavy Higgs boson in the H to WW and H to ZZ decay channels is reported. The search is based upon proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and up to 19.7 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Several final states of the H to WW and H to ZZ decays are analyzed. The combined upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction exclude a Higgs boson with standard model-like couplings and decays in the range 145 < m[H] < 1000 GeV. We also interpret the results in the context of an electroweak singlet extension of the standard model.
A search is described for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons, one of which has an internal conversion to a muon or an electron pair (ll gamma). The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The events selected have an opposite-sign muon or electron pair and a high transverse momentum photon. No excess above background has been found in the three-body invariant mass range 120 < m[ll gamma] < 150 GeV, and limits have been derived for the Higgs boson production cross section times branching fraction for the decay H to gamma* gamma to ll gamma, where the dilepton invariant mass is less than 20 GeV. For a Higgs boson with m[H] = 125 GeV, a 95% confidence level (CL) exclusion observed (expected) limit is 6.7 (5.9 +2.8/-1.8) times the standard model prediction. Additionally, an upper limit at 95% CL on the branching fraction of H to J/Psi gamma for the 125 GeV Higgs boson is set at 1.5E-3.
Forum