Search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with W and Z bosons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the Higgs boson produced with W or Z bosons at 7 TeV, using CMS data, setting limits on production cross sections and excluding certain mass ranges and production rates.

Contribution

It provides the first combined limits on associated Higgs production in multiple decay channels at 7 TeV, constraining the standard model predictions.

Findings

No significant excess observed above background.

Excluded Higgs production cross section 3.3 times the SM at 125 GeV.

Set mass exclusion limits between 110 and 200 GeV.

Abstract

A search for the Higgs boson produced in association with a W or Z boson in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is performed with the CMS detector at the LHC using the full 2011 data sample, from an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Higgs boson decay modes to tau tau and WW are explored by selecting events with three or four leptons in the final state. No excess above background expectations is observed, resulting in exclusion limits on the product of Higgs associated production cross section and decay branching fraction for Higgs boson masses between 110 and 200 GeV in these channels. Combining these results with other CMS associated production searches using the same dataset in the H to gamma gamma and H to b b-bar decay modes, the cross section for associated Higgs boson production 3.3 times the standard model expectation or larger is ruled out at the 95% confidence level for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV.