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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2024)
A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson (H) with a mass of 125GeV to a pair of light pseudoscalars a1 is performed in final states where one pseudoscalar decays to two b quarks and the other to a pair of muons or τ leptons. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at s=13TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138fb-1 recorded with the CMS detector is analyzed. No statistically significant excess is observed over the standard model backgrounds. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level (CL) on the Higgs boson branching fraction to μμbb and to ττbb, via a pair of a1s. The limits depend on the pseudoscalar mass ma1 and are observed to be in the range (0.17-3.3) ×10-4 and (1.7-7.7) ×10-2 in the μμbb and ττbb final states, respectively. In the framework of models with two Higgs doublets and a complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S), the results of the two final states are combined to determine upper limits on the branching fraction B(H→a1a1→ℓℓbb) at 95% CL, with ℓ being a muon or a τ lepton. For different types of 2HDM+S, upper bounds on the branching fraction B(H→a1a1) are extracted from the combination of the two channels. In most of the Type II 2HDM+S parameter space, B(H→a1a1) values above 0.23 are excluded at 95% CL for ma1 values between 15 and 60GeV.
    Cover page: Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the μμbb and ττbb final states.
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    LBL Publications (2023)
    Production cross sections of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a pair of W bosons are measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV. The analysis targets Higgs bosons produced via gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and in association with a W or Z boson. Candidate events are required to have at least two charged leptons and moderate missing transverse momentum, targeting events with at least one leptonically decaying W boson originating from the Higgs boson. Results are presented in the form of inclusive and differential cross sections in the simplified template cross section framework, as well as couplings of the Higgs boson to vector bosons and fermions. The data set collected by the CMS detector during 2016-2018 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138fb-1. The signal strength modifier μ, defined as the ratio of the observed production rate in a given decay channel to the standard model expectation, is measured to be μ=0.95-0.09+0.10. All results are found to be compatible with the standard model within the uncertainties.
      Cover page: Measurements of the Higgs boson production cross section and couplings in the W boson pair decay channel in proton-proton collisions at s=13TeV.
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