Flavour Independent Searches for Hadronically Decaying Neutral Higgs Bosons

TL;DR

This study conducts flavour-independent searches for neutral Higgs bosons decaying into hadrons using LEP data, setting limits on production cross-sections without assuming specific beyond Standard Model physics.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to search for hadronically decaying Higgs bosons without flavor assumptions, analyzing LEP data at energies 189-209 GeV.

Findings

No evidence for Higgs boson production was observed.

Cross-section limits were established as functions of Higgs masses.

Results are applicable to a wide range of theoretical models.

Abstract

This paper describes flavour independent searches for hadronically decaying neutral Higgs bosons in the data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP, at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV. The collected data-set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of around 610 pb^{-1}. The e+e- -> hA and e+e- -> hZ processes are considered, with direct Higgs boson decays into hadrons. No evidence for Higgs boson production is found, and cross-section limits are set as a function of the Higgs boson masses. No explicit assumptions are made on the underlying physics beyond the Standard Model, allowing interpretation of the data in a large class of models.