Search for the Higgs boson decay to a pair of electrons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for the Higgs boson decaying into an electron-positron pair using CMS data at 13 TeV, setting the most stringent upper limit to date on this rare decay mode.

Contribution

It presents the first stringent experimental limit on the Higgs to electron-positron decay branching fraction at 13 TeV using CMS data.

Findings

Upper limit on Higgs to e+e- branching fraction is 3.0 x 10^-4

Data collected from 2016-2018 with 138 fb^-1 luminosity

Analysis categorizes events by production mode

Abstract

A search is presented for the Higgs boson decay to a pair of electrons (e$^+$e$^-$) in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The data set was collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC between 2016 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis uses event categories targeting Higgs boson production via gluon fusion and vector boson fusion. The observed upper limit on the Higgs boson branching fraction to an electron pair is 3.0 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ (3.0 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ expected) at the 95% confidence level, which is the most stringent limit on this branching fraction to date.