Fisher, Wade C. | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2016

Searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson at the Tevatron collider

During Run II of the Tevatron collider, which took place from 2001 until 2011, the CDF and D0 detectors each collected approximately 10 fb -1 of collision data at a center-of-mass energy of . This dataset allowed for tests for the presence of the SM Higgs boson in the mass range 90-200 GeV in the production modes gg → H, W/ZH, vector-boson fusion, and H, with H decay modes H → , H → W + W - , H → τ + τ - , H → γγ, and H → ZZ. This chapter summarizes the search methods and the results of the Higgs boson search at the Tevatron. The increased sophistication of the analysis techniques as the collider run progressed is discussed, covering the strategies used over time to improve the sensitivity and breadth of the analyses. Using the full Tevatron data sample for both experiments, the combined Higgs search in all channels observes an excess consistent with the predicted SM Higgs boson signal with mass of 125 GeV, with a significance of 3.0 standard deviations above the background prediction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Multivariate analysis techniques

The end products of experimental data analysis are designed to be simple and easy to understand: hypothesis tests and measurements of parameters. But, the experimental data themselves are voluminous and complex. Furthermore, in modern collider experiments, many petabytes of data must be processed in search of rare new processes which occur together with much more copious background processes that are of less interest to the task at hand. The systematic uncertainties on the background may be larger than the expected signal in many cases. The statistical power of an analysis and its sensitivity to systematic uncertainty can therefore usually both be improved by separating signal events from background events with higher efficiency and purity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗