Published February 10, 2014 | Version v1
Thesis Open

Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson in the $H\rightarrow ZZ^{*}\rightarrow\ell^{+}\ell^{-}q\bar{q}$ final state with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

  • 1. INFN Naples

Description

The search for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson is one of the most crucial goals of the LHC physics program. The high center-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) of the LHC enables not just to search for the SM Higgs boson at low mass, i.e. between $120\ \GeV - 2 \times m_{\Zboson}$, but to extend it to much larger masses, in the range $200\ \GeV - 1\ \TeV$. Although a large portion of last mass range is indirectly excluded at $95\%$ Confidence Level ($CL$) by global fits to SM observables, it is crucial to complement such indirect limits by direct searches. Further, possible extensions to the SM can conspire to allow a heavy Higgs boson to be compatible with existing measurements and latest Higgs boson-candidate discovery. My Ph.D. research activity was focused in the $H \rightarrow \Zboson\Zboson \rightarrow l^{\pm}l^{\pm}q\bar{q}$ analysis in the full Higgs mass range, which has been split in: Low Mass ($120\ \GeV - 2 \times m_{\Zboson}$) and High Mass ($200\ \GeV - 1\ \TeV$), where the crucial work was performed in the inclusion, for the first time into the ATLAS research program, of the study of the $H \rightarrow \Zboson\Zboson(^*) \rightarrow l^{\pm}l^{\pm}q\bar{q}$ decay in the Low Mass range using 2011 data recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 7\ \TeV$, principal subject of this dissertation. Recently, taking the mentioned discover of a particle compatible with the Higgs boson (\emph{July 4th, 2012}) like a strong guide to continue this research using the full available 2012 recorded data at $\sqrt{s} = 8\ \TeV$, and knowing that several Beyond SM models (BSM), compatible with the observed $\sim 125\ \GeV$ resonance ($h1$) and Electroweak (EW) fit, predict a second 'SM-like' heavy Higgs state $h2$, it will be possible to search for SM resonance in the heavy mass region ($400\GeV - 1\ \TeV$) looking for excess with respect to the SM predictions regardless which model could produce such excess. This is our actual research activity into the ATLAS experiment and a view of its state of the art is included into this dissertation, as the novel tools developed during such a studies.

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Additional details

Identifiers

CDS
1647396
Inspire
1296546
CDS Reference
CERN-THESIS-2013-271
Aleph number
000736742CER

CERN

Department
PH
Programme
No program participation
Accelerator
CERN LHC
Experiment
ATLAS