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

The ATLAS collaboration

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223

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

The ATLAS collaboration

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	138223
Journal	Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume	846
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223
State	Published - 10 Nov 2023

Funding

Funders	Funder number
BSF-NSF
CEA-DRF
Canton of Bern and Geneva
DNSRC	IN2P3-CNRS
EU-ESF
GenT Programmes Generalitat Valenciana , Spain
GenT Programmes Generalitat Valenciana, Spain
GridKA
INFN-CNAF
La Caixa Banking Foundation
MIZŠ
MNE
NDGF	CC-IN2P3
Norwegian Financial Mechanism	2014-2021
PROMETEO
RGC
UNCE	SCI/013
Wallenberg Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Alabama Space Grant Consortium
Brookhaven National Laboratory
CRC Health Group	21/SCI/017
Canarie
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation
CERN
Compute Canada
Göran Gustafssons Stiftelser
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
National Research Council Canada
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Leverhulme Trust
European Research Council
European Cooperation in Science and Technology
Australian Research Council
National Stroke Foundation
Neurosurgical Research Foundation
Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
Minerva Foundation
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Austrian Science Fund
Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases, Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel Science Foundation
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS
Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique
Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
Horizon 2020
British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund
European Regional Development Fund
Defence Science Institute
Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej
Institutul de Fizică Atomică
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
Royal Society of South Australia
Irish Rugby Football Union

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10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223

Cite this

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

abstract = "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.",

author = "{The ATLAS collaboration} and G. Aad and B. Abbott and K. Abeling and Abidi, {S. H.} and A. Aboulhorma and H. Abramowicz and H. Abreu and Y. Abulaiti and {Abusleme Hoffman}, {A. C.} and Acharya, {B. S.} and {Adam Bourdarios}, C. and L. Adamczyk and L. Adamek and Addepalli, {S. V.} and J. Adelman and A. Adiguzel and S. Adorni and T. Adye and Affolder, {A. A.} and Y. Afik and Agaras, {M. N.} and J. Agarwala and A. Aggarwal and C. Agheorghiesei and Aguilar-Saavedra, {J. A.} and A. Ahmad and F. Ahmadov and Ahmed, {W. S.} and S. Ahuja and X. Ai and G. Aielli and C. Appelt and L. Barak and U. Barron and G. Bella and Y. Benhammou and H. Cohen and E. Etzion and Frid, {Y. Y.} and G. Koren and O. Kuprash and Lutz, {M. S.} and R. Nayak and G. Ninio and {Pascual Dominguez}, L. and D. Reikher and {Salvador Salas}, A. and A. Soffer and Tamir, {N. M.} and D. Vannicola",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",

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month = nov,

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doi = "10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138223",

language = "אנגלית",

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AU - The ATLAS collaboration

AU - Aad, G.

AU - Abbott, B.

AU - Abeling, K.

AU - Abidi, S. H.

AU - Aboulhorma, A.

AU - Abramowicz, H.

AU - Abreu, H.

AU - Abulaiti, Y.

AU - Abusleme Hoffman, A. C.

AU - Acharya, B. S.

AU - Adam Bourdarios, C.

AU - Adamczyk, L.

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AU - Agaras, M. N.

AU - Agarwala, J.

AU - Aggarwal, A.

AU - Agheorghiesei, C.

AU - Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.

AU - Ahmad, A.

AU - Ahmadov, F.

AU - Ahmed, W. S.

AU - Ahuja, S.

AU - Ai, X.

AU - Aielli, G.

AU - Appelt, C.

AU - Barak, L.

AU - Barron, U.

AU - Bella, G.

AU - Benhammou, Y.

AU - Cohen, H.

AU - Etzion, E.

AU - Frid, Y. Y.

AU - Koren, G.

AU - Kuprash, O.

AU - Lutz, M. S.

AU - Nayak, R.

AU - Ninio, G.

AU - Pascual Dominguez, L.

AU - Reikher, D.

AU - Salvador Salas, A.

AU - Soffer, A.

AU - Tamir, N. M.

AU - Vannicola, D.

PY - 2023/11/10

Y1 - 2023/11/10

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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M1 - 138223

ER -

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

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