Searching for Higgs Decaying to H->WW->mu + tau and H->WW->ee at DO

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for Higgs boson decays into WW channels involving electrons, muons, and taus at the D0 detector, using advanced multivariate analysis techniques to set limits on production rates.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive search for specific Higgs decay modes using multivariate methods at the Tevatron, providing new limits on Higgs production in these channels.

Findings

No excess above background observed.

Limits set on Higgs production cross section times branching ratio.

Analysis demonstrates effectiveness of multivariate techniques in Higgs searches.

Abstract

A search for the Higgs boson in H->WW->ee and H->WW->mu+tau decays in ppbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV is presented. The data have been collected by the Run II DO detector. In order to maximize the sensitivity multivariate techniques such as artificial neural networks (NN), matrix element methods and likelihoods are used. No excess above the Standard Model background is observed and limits on the production cross section times branching ratio for Higgs masses between 115 and 200 GeV are set.