Search for a Higgs boson in the mass range from 145 to 1000 GeV decaying to a pair of W or Z bosons

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for a heavy Higgs boson decaying into WW and ZZ channels using LHC data, setting limits on its existence across a wide mass range and interpreting results within an extended standard model framework.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive search for a heavy Higgs boson in multiple decay channels over a broad mass range using CMS data.

Findings

Excluded Higgs boson masses from 145 to 1000 GeV at 95% confidence level.

Set upper limits on cross section times branching fraction for various masses.

Interpreted results within an electroweak singlet extension of the standard model.

Abstract

A search for a heavy Higgs boson in the H to WW and H to ZZ decay channels is reported. The search is based upon proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and up to 19.7 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Several final states of the H to WW and H to ZZ decays are analyzed. The combined upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction exclude a Higgs boson with standard model-like couplings and decays in the range 145 < m[H] < 1000 GeV. We also interpret the results in the context of an electroweak singlet extension of the standard model.