Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e ⁺ e ^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7 Gev/c² is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL. Received: 13 March 2002 / Revised version: 9 October 2002 / Published online: 13 December 2002     

Discovery of the Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC

The Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson was predicted by theorists in the 1960s during the development of the electroweak theory. Prior to the startup of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), experimental searches found no evidence of the Higgs boson. In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC reported the discovery of a new boson in their searches for the SM Higgs boson. Subsequent experimental studies have revealed the spin-0 nature of this new boson and found its couplings to SM particles consistent to those of a Higgs boson. These measurements confirmed the newly discovered boson is indeed a Higgs boson. More measurements will be performed to compare the properties of the Higgs boson with the SM predictions.     

Distinguishing a SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from SM Higgs boson at muon collider

We explore the possibility of distinguishing the SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from the SM Higgs boson via Higgs boson pair production at future muon collider. We study the behavior of the production cross-section in SM and MSSM with Higgs boson mass for various MSSM parameters tan β and m _A . We observe that at fixed CM energy, in the SM, the total cross-section increases with the increase in Higgs boson mass whereas this trend is reversed for the MSSM. The changes that occur for the MSSM in comparison to the SM predictions are quantified in terms of the relative percentage deviation in cross-section. The observed deviations in cross-section for different choices of Higgs boson masses suggest that the measurements of the cross-section could possibly distinguish the SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from the SM Higgs boson.      

Final results from DELPHI on the searches for SM and MSSM neutral Higgs bosons

These final results from DELPHI searches for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson, together with benchmark scans of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) neutral Higgs bosons, used data taken at centre-of-mass energies between 200 and 209 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 224 pb^-1. The data from 192 to 202 GeV are reanalysed with improved b-tagging for MSSM final states decaying to four b-quarks. The 95% confidence level lower mass bound on the Standard Model Higgs boson is 114.1 GeV/c ². Limits are also given on the lightest scalar and pseudo-scalar Higgs bosons of the MSSM.Received: 7 March 2003, Revised: 30 September 2003, Published online: 3 December 2003     

Higgs and Z<Superscript>′</Superscript> phenomenology in B–L extension of the standard model at LHC

The phenomenology of the low scale U(1)_B–L extension of the standard model and its implications at LHC energies is presented. In this model, an extra gauge boson corresponding to B–L gauge symmetry and an extra SM singlet scalar (heavy Higgs boson) are predicted. We show a detailed analysis of both heavy and light Higgs bosons decay and production in addition to the possible decay channels of the new gauge boson. We find that the cross sections of the SM-like Higgs production are reduced by ∼20–30%, while its decay branching ratios remain intact. The extra Higgs boson has relatively small cross sections and the branching ratios of Z^′→l⁺l^- are of order ∼20% to be compared to ∼3% of the SM results. Hence, the search for Z^′ is accessible via a clean dilepton signal at LHC.     

Yukawa coupling quantum corrections to the self-couplings of the lightest MSSM Higgs boson

A detailed analysis of the top-quark/squark quantum corrections to the lightest CP-even Higgs boson self-couplings is presented in the MSSM. By considering the leading one-loop Yukawa-coupling contributions of , we discuss the decoupling behavior of these corrections when the top squarks are heavy compared to the electroweak scale. As shown analytically and numerically, the large corrections can almost completely be absorbed into the -boson mass. Our conclusion is that the self-couplings remain similar to the coupling of the SM Higgs boson for the heavy top-squark sector. Received: 15 November 2001 / Published online: 25 January 2002     

Higgs boson production and decay in little Higgs models with T-parity

We study Higgs boson production and decay in a certain class of little Higgs models with T-parity in which some T-parity partners of the Standard Model (SM) fermions gain their masses through Yukawa-type couplings. We find that the Higgs boson production cross section of a 120 GeV Higgs boson at the CERN LHC via gg fusion process at one-loop level could be reduced by about 45%, 35% and 20%, as compared to its SM prediction, for a relatively low new particle mass scale f=600, 700 and 1000 GeV, respectively. On the other hand, the weak boson fusion cross section is close to the SM value. Furthermore, the Higgs boson decay branching ratio into di-photon mode can be enhanced by about 35% in small Higgs mass region in certain case, for the total decay width of Higgs boson in the little Higgs model is always smaller than that in the SM.     

The fourth Standard Model family and the competition in Standard Model Higgs boson search at Tevatron and LHC

The impact of the fourth Standard Model family on Higgs boson search at Tevatron and LHC is reviewed. The enhancement due to a fourth SM family in the production of Higgs boson via gluon fusion already enables the Tevatron experiments to become sensitive to Higgs masses between 140 and 200 GeV and could increase this sensitivity up to about 300 GeV until the LHC is in shape. The same effect could enable the LHC running even at 7 TeV center of mass energy to scan Higgs masses between 200 and 300 GeV only with a few hundred pb^?1 of integrated luminosity.     

Search for neutral Higgs bosons in Z0 decays using the OPAL detector at LEP

A search for neutral Higgs bosons has been performed using the full sample of Z⁰ decays collected by the OPAL detector at LEP up to 1995. The data were taken at centre-of-mass energies between 88 GeV and 95 GeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 160 pb^?1. The present search addresses the processes Z⁰→H⁰Z* and h⁰Z*, where H⁰ is the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model and h⁰ the lightest neutral scalar Higgs boson predicted in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. For the virtual Z⁰ boson, Z*, the following decay channels are considered: Z*→vv?, e⁺e^? and μ⁺μ^?. Two candidate events have been found in the vv?H⁰ channel and one in the μ⁺μ^?H⁰ channel. Combined with earlier searches, the present search excludes the SM Higgs boson, at the 95% confidence level (CL), from the mass range below 59.6 GeV. In the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, allowing a wide range of variation for most relevant model parameters, a 95% CL lower limit of 44.3 GeV is obtained for the mass of the h⁰ boson. Combined with earlier direct searches for the Higgs boson pair production process Z⁰→h⁰A⁰ and with measurements of the Z⁰ line shape, a 95% CL lower limit of 23.5 GeV is obtained for the mass of the pseudoscalar Higgs boson A⁰, assuming tan β≥ 1.     

Search for a low mass CP-odd Higgs boson in $\mathrm{e^+e^-}$ collisions with the OPAL detector at LEP2

We have analysed the data collected by OPAL at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV searching for Higgs boson candidates from the process followed by the decay of where is the CP-odd Higgs boson. The search is done in the region where the mass, , is below the production threshold for , and the CP-even Higgs boson mass is within the range 45-86 GeV/c ² . In this kinematic range, the decay of may be dominant and previous Higgs boson searches have very small sensitivities. This search can be interpreted within any model that predicts the existence of at least one scalar and one pseudoscalar Higgs boson. No excess of events is observed above the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent limits on the cross-section for the process are derived assuming 100% decays of the into and 100% decays of the into each of the following final states: , , , , and . The results are also interpreted in the CP-conserving no-mixing MSSM scenario, where the region and is excluded. Received: 13 March 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003     

Neutral Higgs Boson Pair Production in Standard Model with the Fourth Generation Quarks at LHC

We investigated the neutral Higgs boson pair production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the SM with four families. We found that the gluon-gluon fusion mode is the most dominant one in producing neutral Higgs boson pair at the LHC, and it can be used to probe the trilinear Higgs coupling. If the heavy quarks of the fourth generation really exist within the SM, they can manifest their effect on the cross section of the Higgs pair production process at the LHC. Our numerical results show that there will be 2×10⁴ neutral Higgs boson pair production events per year if the next generation heavy quarks really exist, while there will be only 2×10³ events produced per year if there are only three families in the SM.     

The $\gamma \gamma \rightarrow H^0 H^0$ decay in non-commutative quantum electrodynamics

We study the possibility of detecting non-commutative QED through neutral Higgs boson pair production at a collider. This is based on the assumption that H⁰ interacts directly with the photon as suggested by symmetry considerations. The sensitivity of the cross-section to the non-commutative scale and the Higgs mass is investigated. Received: 28 August 2002 / Revised version: 15 November 2002 / Published online: 19 February 2003     

Higgs physics at CMS

This article reviews recent measurements of the properties of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson using data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC: its mass, width and couplings to other SM particles. We also summarise highlights from searches for new physical phenomena in the Higgs sector as they are proposed in many extensions of the SM: flavour violating and invisible decay modes, resonances decaying into Higgs bosons and searches for additional Higgs bosons.     

Pair production of the Elementary Goldstone Higgs boson at the LHC

The Elementary Goldstone Higgs(EGH) model is a perturbative extension of the standard model(SM),which identifies the EGH boson as the observed Higgs boson. In this paper, we study pair production of the EGH boson via gluon fusion at the LHC and find that the resonant contribution of the heavy scalar is very small and the SM-like triangle diagram contribution is strongly suppressed. The total production cross section mainly comes from the box diagram contribution and its value can be significantly enhanced with respect to the SM prediction.     

h --> mutau at Hadron colliders

We study the observability for a lepton flavor-changing decay of a Higgs boson h--> mutau at Hadron colliders. Flavor-changing couplings of a Higgs boson exist at tree level in models with multiple Higgs doublets. The hmutau coupling is particularly motivated by the favorable interpretation of nu(mu)-nu(tau) oscillation. We find that at the Tevatron run II the unique mutau signature could serve as the Higgs discovery channel, surpassing expectations for Higgs boson searches in the SM and in a large parameter region of the MSSM. The sensitivity will be greatly improved at the LHC, beyond the coverage at a muon collider Higgs factory.     

Distinguishing the higgs boson from the dilaton at the large hadron collider

It is likely that the LHC will observe a color- and charge-neutral scalar whose decays are consistent with those of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson. The Higgs interpretation of such a discovery is not the only possibility. For example, electroweak symmetry breaking could be triggered by a spontaneously broken, nearly conformal sector. The spectrum of states at the electroweak scale would then contain a narrow scalar resonance, the pseudo-Goldstone boson of conformal symmetry breaking, with Higgs-boson-like properties. If the conformal sector is strongly coupled, this pseudodilaton may be the only new state accessible at high energy colliders. We discuss the prospects for distinguishing this mode from a minimal Higgs boson at the LHC and ILC. The main discriminants between the two scenarios are (i) cubic self-interactions and (ii) a potential enhancement of couplings to massless SM gauge bosons.     

Four weak gauge boson production at photon linear collider and heavy Higgs signal

We study the signals and backgrounds for a heavy Higgs boson in the processes γγ → WWWW, γ → WWZZ at the proton linear collider. The results are based on the complete tree-level SM calculation for these reactions. We show that the invariant mass spectrum of central WW, ZZ pairs is sensitive to the signal from Higgs boson with a mass up to 1 TeV linear collider for integrated luminosity of 300 fb⁻¹. At 1.5 TeV PLC Higgs boson with a mass up to 700 GeV can be studied. The nonresonant longitudinal gauge boson scattering (m_H = ∞) can be detected in photon-photon collisions at e⁺e⁻ center-of-mass energy of 3 TeV.     

Direct search for the Standard Model Higgs boson

For twelve years, LEP revolutionized the knowledge of electroweak symmetry breaking within the standard model, and the direct discovery of the Higgs boson would have been the crowning achievement. Searches at the Z resonance and above the W⁺W⁻ threshold allowed an unambiguous lower limit on the mass of the standard model Higgs boson to set be at 114.1 GeV·c⁻². After years of efforts to push the LEP performance far beyond the design limits, hints of what could be the first signs of the existence of a 115 GeV·c⁻² Higgs boson appeared in June 2000, were confirmed in September, and were then confirmed again in November. An additional six-month period of LEP operation was enough to provide a definite answer, with an opportunity to make a fundamental discovery of prime importance. To cite this article: P. Janot, M. Kado, C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 1193–1202.     

Extending the study of the Higgs sector at the LHC by proton tagging

We show that forward proton tagging may significantly enlarge the potential of studying the Higgs sector at the LHC. We concentrate on Higgs production via central exclusive diffractive processes (CEDP). Particular attention is paid to regions in the MSSM parameter space where the partial width of the Higgs boson decay into two gluons much exceeds the SM case; here the CEDP are found to have special advantages.Received: 10 November 2003, Published online: 4 February 2004     

Prospects for the measurement of the Higgs boson masswith a linear <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript> + </Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>-</Superscript> collider

The potential of a linear e ⁺ e^- collider operated at a centre-of-mass energy of 350 GeV is studied for the measurement of the Higgs boson mass. An integrated luminosity of 500 fb^-1 is assumed. For Higgs boson masses of 120, 150 and 180 GeV the uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass measurement is estimated to be 40, 65 and 70 MeV, respectively. The effects of beam related systematics, namely a bias in the beam energy measurement, the beam energy spread and the luminosity spectrum due to beamstrahlung, on the precision of the Higgs boson mass measurement are investigated. In order to keep the systematic uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass well below the level of the statistical error, the beam energy measurement must be controlled with a relative precision better than 10^-4. Received: 30 May 2005, Revised: 6 July 2005, Published online: 6 October 2005