Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a $b\bar{b}$ pair in events with no charged leptons and large missing transverse energy using the full CDF data set

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a $b\bar{b}$ pair in events with no charged leptons and large missing transverse energy, using the full CDF data set from proton-antiproton collisions.

Contribution

It presents the first search for the Higgs boson in this specific decay channel using the complete Tevatron data set, setting upper limits on production cross section for various masses.

Findings

Observed limit at 125 GeV/c^2 is 6.7 times the SM prediction.

Expected limit at 125 GeV/c^2 is 3.6 times the SM prediction.

Set upper limits on Higgs production cross section for masses between 90 and 150 GeV/c^2.

Abstract

We report on a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson in the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45 fb$^{-1}$. We consider events having no identified charged lepton, a transverse energy imbalance, and two or three jets, of which at least one is consistent with originating from the decay of a $b$ quark. We place 95% credibility level upper limits on the production cross section times standard model branching fraction for several mass hypotheses between 90 and $150 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$. For a Higgs boson mass of $125 \mathrm{GeV}/c^2$, the observed (expected) limit is 6.7 (3.6) times the standard model prediction.