Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the missing transverse energy and b-jet signature in proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV
Abstract
We report on the results of a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a W or Z boson in pp¯ collisions at [special characters omitted] = 1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb−1 . We consider events having no identified charged leptons, a large imbalance in transverse momentum, and two or three jets where at least one jet contains a secondary vertex consistent with the decay of a b hadron. The main backgrounds are modeled with innovative techniques using data. The sensitivity of the search is optimized using multivariate discriminant techniques. We find good agreement between data and the standard model predictions. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on production cross section times branching ratio for several Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV/ c2 to 150 GeV/c2. For a mass of 115 GeV/c2 the observed (expected) limit is 6.9 (5.6) times the standard model prediction.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Bortoletto, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Particle physics
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