Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the OPAL Detector at LEP

TL;DR

This paper reports on the OPAL detector's search for the Standard Model Higgs boson at LEP, finding no signal and setting a lower mass limit of 112.7 GeV/c^2 at 95% confidence level.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for the Standard Model Higgs boson at LEP energies by the OPAL Collaboration, establishing a new lower mass bound.

Findings

No Higgs signal observed in data.

Lower mass limit of 112.7 GeV/c^2 at 95% CL.

Data consistent with background hypothesis.

Abstract

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7GeV/C^2 is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL.