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Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector

Publication ,  Journal Article
Aad, G; Abbott, B; Abeling, K; Abidi, SH; Aboulhorma, A; Abramowicz, H; Abreu, H; Abulaiti, Y; Abusleme Hoffman, AC; Acharya, BS; Adamczyk, L ...
Published in: Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics
November 10, 2023

This Letter reports on a search for off-shell production of the Higgs boson using 139 fb−1 of pp collision data at s= 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The signature is a pair of Z bosons, with contributions from both the production and subsequent decay of a virtual Higgs boson and the interference of that process with other processes. The two observable final states are ZZ→4ℓ and ZZ→2ℓ2ν with ℓ=e or μ. In the ZZ→4ℓ final state, a dense Neural Network is used to enhance analysis sensitivity with respect to matrix element-based discrimination. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with an observed (expected) significance of 3.3 (2.2) standard deviations, representing experimental evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production. Assuming that no new particles enter the production of the virtual Higgs boson, its total width can be deduced from the measurement of its off-shell production cross-section. The measured total width of the Higgs boson is 4.5−2.5+3.3 MeV, and the observed (expected) upper limit on the total width is found to be 10.5 (10.9) MeV at 95% confidence level.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics

DOI

ISSN

0370-2693

Publication Date

November 10, 2023

Volume

846

Related Subject Headings

  • Nuclear & Particles Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics
  • 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
  • 0105 Mathematical Physics
 

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Aad, G., Abbott, B., Abeling, K., Abidi, S. H., Aboulhorma, A., Abramowicz, H., … Arce, A. T. H. (2023). Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector. Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics, 846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223
Aad, G., B. Abbott, K. Abeling, S. H. Abidi, A. Aboulhorma, H. Abramowicz, H. Abreu, et al. “Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector.” Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics 846 (November 10, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223.
Aad G, Abbott B, Abeling K, Abidi SH, Aboulhorma A, Abramowicz H, et al. Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector. Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics. 2023 Nov 10;846.
Aad, G., et al. “Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector.” Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics, vol. 846, Nov. 2023. Scopus, doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223.
Aad G, Abbott B, Abeling K, Abidi SH, Aboulhorma A, Abramowicz H, Abreu H, Abulaiti Y, Abusleme Hoffman AC, Acharya BS, Adam Bourdarios C, Adamczyk L, Adamek L, Addepalli SV, Adelman J, Adiguzel A, Adorni S, Adye T, Affolder AA, Afik Y, Agaras MN, Agarwala J, Aggarwal A, Agheorghiesei C, Aguilar-Saavedra JA, Ahmad A, Ahmadov F, Ahmed WS, Ahuja S, Ai X, Aielli G, Ait Tamlihat M, Aitbenchikh B, Aizenberg I, Akbiyik M, Åkesson TPA, Akimov AV, Akolkar NN, Al Khoury K, Alberghi GL, Albert J, Albicocco P, Alderweireldt S, Aleksa M, Aleksandrov IN, Alexa C, Alexopoulos T, Alfonsi A, Alfonsi F, Alhroob M, Ali B, Ali S, Aliev M, Alimonti G, Alkakhi W, Allaire C, Allbrooke BMM, Allendes Flores CA, Allport PP, Aloisio A, Alonso F, Alpigiani C, Alvarez Estevez M, Alvarez Fernandez A, Alviggi MG, Aly M, Amaral Coutinho Y, Ambler A, Amelung C, Amerl M, Ames CG, Amidei D, Amor Dos Santos SP, Amos KR, Ananiev V, Anastopoulos C, Andeen T, Anders JK, Andrean SY, Andreazza A, Angelidakis S, Angerami A, Anisenkov AV, Annovi A, Antel C, Anthony MT, Antipov E, Antonelli M, Antrim DJA, Anulli F, Aoki M, Aoki T, Aparisi Pozo JA, Aparo MA, Aperio Bella L, Appelt C, Aranzabal N, Araujo Ferraz V, Arcangeletti C, Arce ATH. Evidence of off-shell Higgs boson production from ZZ leptonic decay channels and constraints on its total width with the ATLAS detector. Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics. 2023 Nov 10;846.
Journal cover image

Published In

Physics Letters Section B Nuclear Elementary Particle and High Energy Physics

DOI

ISSN

0370-2693

Publication Date

November 10, 2023

Volume

846

Related Subject Headings

  • Nuclear & Particles Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics
  • 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
  • 0105 Mathematical Physics