Inclusive Search for Standard Model Higgs Boson Production in the WW Decay Channel using the CDF II Detector

TL;DR

A search for standard model (SM) Higgs boson production using pp collision data at square root(s) = 1.96 TeV finds no evidence and places upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the SM production cross section (sigma(H)) for values of the Higgs Boson mass in the range from 110 to 200 GeV.

Abstract

We present a search for standard model (SM) Higgs boson production using ppbar collision data at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb-1. We search for Higgs bosons produced in all processes with a significant production rate and decaying to two W bosons. We find no evidence for SM Higgs boson production and place upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the SM production cross section (sigma(H)) for values of the Higgs boson mass (m_H) in the range from 110 to 200 GeV. These limits are the most stringent for m_H > 130 GeV and are 1.29 above the predicted value of sigma(H) for mH = 165 GeV.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: The combined distribution of NN scores for backgrounds and a $m_H=160$ GeV Higgs boson compared to the observed data shown with statistical uncertainties. The Higgs boson distribution is normalized to ten times the SM expectation.
• Figure 2: Expected and observed upper limits at the 95% C.L. on $\sigma_{H}$ presented as a ratio to the predicted SM values as a function of $m_H$. The dashed line represents the median expected limits, the green and yellow bands the estimated one and two sigma probability bands for the distribution of expectations, and the solid line the observed limit.