Measurement of simplified template cross sections of the Higgs boson produced in association with W or Z bosons in the H→bb¯ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV

Abstract

Differential cross sections are measured for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with vector bosons (<a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mi>W</a:mi></a:math>, <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:mi>Z</c:mi></c:math>) and decaying to a pair of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><e:mi>b</e:mi></e:math> quarks. Measurements are performed within the framework of the simplified template cross sections. The analysis relies on the leptonic decays of the <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><g:mi>W</g:mi></g:math> and <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><i:mi>Z</i:mi></i:math> bosons, resulting in final states with 0, 1, or 2 electrons or muons. The Higgs boson candidates are either reconstructed from pairs of resolved <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><k:mi>b</k:mi></k:math>-tagged jets, or from single large-radius jets containing the particles arising from two <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><m:mi>b</m:mi></m:math> quarks. Proton-proton collision data at <o:math xmlns:o="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><o:msqrt><o:mi>s</o:mi></o:msqrt><o:mo>=</o:mo><o:mn>13</o:mn><o:mtext> </o:mtext><o:mtext> </o:mtext><o:mi>TeV</o:mi></o:math>, collected by the CMS experiment in 2016–2018 and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of <q:math xmlns:q="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><q:mn>138</q:mn><q:mtext> </q:mtext><q:mtext> </q:mtext><q:msup><q:mi>fb</q:mi><q:mrow><q:mo>−</q:mo><q:mn>1</q:mn></q:mrow></q:msup></q:math>, are analyzed. The inclusive signal strength, defined as the product of the observed production cross section and branching fraction relative to the standard model expectation, combining all analysis categories, is found to be <s:math xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><s:mi>μ</s:mi><s:mo>=</s:mo><s:mn>1.1</s:mn><s:msubsup><s:mn>5</s:mn><s:mrow><s:mo>−</s:mo><s:mn>0.20</s:mn></s:mrow><s:mrow><s:mo>+</s:mo><s:mn>0.22</s:mn></s:mrow></s:msubsup></s:math>. This corresponds to an observed (expected) significance of 6.3 (5.6) standard deviations. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration 2024 CERN