Search for Standard Model Higgs Boson Production in Association with a W Boson at CDF

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the associated production of the Standard Model Higgs boson with a W boson at the CDF experiment, using 2.7 fb$^{-1}$ of data, and sets upper limits on the production rate.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis combining neural network discrimination and advanced b-jet tagging to improve sensitivity to Higgs production in proton-antiproton collisions.

Findings

No significant excess over background observed.

Set upper limits on Higgs production cross section times branching ratio.

Limits range from 3.6 to 61.1 times the Standard Model prediction.

Abstract

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson production in association with a $W$ boson in proton-antiproton collisions ($p\bar{p}\rightarrow W^\pm H \rightarrow \ell\nu b\bar{b}$) at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The search employs data collected with the CDF II detector which correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 2.7 fb$^{-1}$. We recorded this data with two kinds of triggers. The first kind required high-p$_T$ charged leptons and the second required both missing transverse energy and jets. The search selects events consistent with a signature of a single lepton ($e^\pm/\mu^\pm$), missing transverse energy, and two jets. Jets corresponding to bottom quarks are identified with a secondary vertex tagging method and a jet probability tagging method. Kinematic information is fed in an artificial neural network to improve discrimination between signal and background. The search finds that both the observed number of events and the neural network output distributions are consistent with the standard model background expectations, and sets 95% confidence level upper limits on the production cross section times branching ratio. The limits are expressed as a ratio to the standard model production rate. The limits range from 3.6 (4.3 expected) to 61.1 (43.2 expected) for Higgs masses from 100 to 150 GeV/$c^{2}$, respectively.