A Search for Higgs Boson in $H\rightarrow W^+W^-$

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the Higgs boson decaying into W+W- pairs using 7 TeV proton-proton collision data, setting limits on its production and excluding certain mass ranges.

Contribution

It presents the first search for Higgs to W+W- at 7 TeV with CMS, establishing exclusion limits in the 150-193 GeV/c^2 mass range.

Findings

No significant excess observed above background.

Excluded Higgs mass range 150-193 GeV/c^2 at 95% CL.

Set upper limits on Higgs production cross section.

Abstract

A search for the Higgs boson decaying to $W^+W^-$ has been performed on $1.1\:$fb$^{-1}$ of pp collision data at $\sqrt{s}=7\:$TeV collected with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector in 2011. No significant excess above Standard Model background expectation is observed, and upper limits on Higgs boson cross section production are derived, excluding the presence of a Higgs boson with mass in the range of $[150, 193]\:$GeV$/c^{2}$ at 95% confidence level.