Searches for the Higgs boson decaying to W^{+} W^{-} -> l^{+}nu l^{-}nubar with the CDF II detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to W bosons using the full CDF II dataset, setting exclusion limits on its production in various models and mass ranges.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for Higgs to WW decays at the Tevatron with full dataset, providing new exclusion limits and interpretations in extended models.

Findings

Excluded Higgs mass range 149-172 GeV/c^2 at 95% CL in the SM.

Excluded Higgs mass range 124-200 GeV/c^2 with fourth-generation fermions.

No evidence found for Higgs production in the analyzed mass range.

Abstract

We present a search for a standard model Higgs boson decaying to two $W$ bosons that decay to leptons using the full data set collected with the CDF II detector in $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV $p\bar{p}$ collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.7 fb${}^{-1}$. We obtain no evidence for production of a standard model Higgs boson with mass between 110 and 200 GeV/$c^2$, and place upper limits on the production cross section within this range. We exclude standard model Higgs boson production at the 95% confidence level in the mass range between 149 and 172 GeV/$c^2$, while expecting to exclude, in the absence of signal, the range between 155 and 175 GeV/$c^2$. We also interpret the search in terms of standard model Higgs boson production in the presence of a fourth generation of fermions and within the context of a fermiophobic Higgs boson model. For the specific case of a standard model-like Higgs boson in the presence of fourth-generation fermions, we exclude at the 95% confidence level Higgs boson production in the mass range between 124 and 200 GeV/$c^2$, while expecting to exclude, in the absence of signal, the range between 124 and 221 GeV/$c^2$.