Measurement of the Higgs boson total decay width using the H $\to$ WW $\to$ e$\nu\mu\nu$ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper measures the Higgs boson's total decay width by comparing off-shell and on-shell production in the WW decay channel using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data, achieving improved precision over previous results.

Contribution

It provides a new measurement of the Higgs decay width using off-shell production, with enhanced accuracy compared to prior CMS analyses.

Findings

Higgs decay width measured as 3.9 MeV with uncertainties

Off-shell signal strength determined as 1.2^{+0.8}_{-0.7}

Result consistent with Standard Model predictions

Abstract

The Higgs boson (H) decay width is determined from the ratio of off- and on-shell production of H $\to$ WW $\to$ e$\nu\mu\nu$ using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The off-shell signal strength is measured as $\mu_\text{off-shell}$ = 1.2$^{+0.8}_{-0.7}$. The Higgs boson total decay width is $\Gamma_\text{H}$ = 3.9$^{+2.7}_{-2.2}$ MeV, in agreement with the standard model prediction. The uncertainty in this result represents a factor of three improvement over the previous CMS result in this decay channel.