Measurement of differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

TL;DR

This paper measures how often Higgs bosons are produced with specific properties in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV, using the diphoton decay channel, and compares results with theoretical predictions including beyond Standard Model scenarios.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed differential cross section measurements of Higgs production in the diphoton channel at 8 TeV, including comparisons with advanced QCD calculations and BSM models.

Findings

Total fiducial cross section measured as 32 +/- 10 fb.

Results agree with next-to-next-to-leading order QCD predictions.

Data constrains models beyond the Standard Model.

Abstract

A measurement is presented of differential cross sections for the Higgs boson (H) production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The analysis exploits the H to gamma gamma decay in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross section is measured as a function of the kinematic properties of the diphoton system and of the associated jets. Results corrected for detector effects are compared with predictions at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as with predictions beyond the standard model. For isolated photons with pseudorapidities abs(eta) < 2.5, and with the photon of largest and next-to-largest transverse momentum (pt[gamma]) divided by the diphoton mass m[gamma-gamma] satisfying the respective conditions of pt[gamma] / m[gamma-gamma] > 1/3 and > 1/4, the total fiducial cross section is 32 +/- 10 fb.