Search for WH production with a light Higgs boson decaying to prompt electron-jets in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for a light Higgs boson decaying into electron-jets in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV, setting limits on production cross sections with data from the ATLAS detector.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search for Higgs decays into hidden-sector electron-jets using ATLAS data at 7 TeV, providing new constraints on such processes.

Findings

One event observed, consistent with background expectations.

Limits set on Higgs production cross section times branching ratio.

Constraints vary for Higgs masses between 100 and 140 GeV.

Abstract

A search is performed for WH production with a light Higgs boson decaying to hidden-sector particles resulting in clusters of collimated electrons, known as electron-jets. The search is performed with 2.04 fb-1 of data collected in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. One event satisfying the signal selection criteria is observed, which is consistent with the expected background rate. Limits on the product of the WH production cross section and the branching ratio of a Higgs boson decaying to prompt electron-jets are calculated as a function of a Higgs boson mass in the range from 100 GeV to 140 GeV.