Search for Low Mass Higgs at the Tevatron

TL;DR

This paper reports on searches for a low-mass Standard Model Higgs boson at the Tevatron collider using data from 2002-2006, focusing on specific decay channels, and discusses the current limits and future sensitivity improvements.

Contribution

It presents combined analyses of multiple decay channels for low-mass Higgs at the Tevatron and highlights analysis improvements that enhance sensitivity beyond increased data collection.

Findings

No evidence for Higgs production was observed.

Upper limits on Higgs production cross-section were set.

Analysis techniques are improving sensitivity faster than luminosity increases.

Abstract

We present CDF and D0 searches for a Standard Model Higgs boson produced associatively with a W or Z boson at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV using up to 1 fb^-1 of analyzed Tevatron data collected from February 2002 to February 2006. For Higgs masses less than 135 GeV/c^2, as is favored by experimental and theoretical constraints, WH->lnubb, ZH->llbb, and ZH->nunubb are the most sensitive decay channels to search for the Higgs boson. Both CDF and D0 have analyzed these three channels and found no evidence for Higgs production, and therefore set upper limits on the Higgs production cross-section. While the analyses are not yet sensitive to Standard Model Higgs production, improvements in analysis techniques are increasing sensitivity to the Higgs much faster than added luminosity alone.