Higgs Searches at DZero
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
It has long been the goal of particle physicists to discover and understand the building blocks of the universe. Over the years a theoretical description of these building blocks has been developed which describes the fundamental particles and how they interact with one another. The theory is called the 'Standard Model'. Although this theory has been extremely successful - with many measurements confirming its predictions to great precision - there are missing pieces in the puzzle. One particularly compelling open question is that of the origin of mass. In its simplest form the Standard Model does not allow for the fundamental particles such as quarks, electrons, muons, photons, gluons etc to possess mass. This is a real problem since experimental evidence overwhelmingly supports the proposition that some of these particles are massive. A modification to this theory based on the work of many but most prominently, Higgs, Weinberg and Salaam, proposes a mechanism known as 'Spontaneous Electroweak Symmetry Breaking'. Also known as the Higgs mechanism, one of the predictions of this theory is the existence of a neutral particle called the Higgs Boson. This is not the only possibility, another popular class of theories which further extend the Standard Model - called 'Super-Symmetry', or SUSY for short, predict the existence of many new particles - amongst them several Higgs bosons. By searching for Higgs boson(s) one can thus find evidence to support or refute these theories. Current experimental results rule out the existence of a Higgs boson with a mass less than around 115 times that of the proton. The experiments at the Tevatron - CDF and D-Zero will extend this limit to around 180 in the absence of discovery. This is important because theoretical considerations along with indirect experimental evidence suggest that if the Standard Model is correct or the simplest form of Supersymmetry is correct then the Higgs should have a mass less than this limit. There are several different experimental signatures - or channels - which can be used to search for the Higgs. The proposed research will involve the detailed analysis of the data-set collected at the D-Zero experiment in one of these channels (the single most sensitive) and the combination of the results from all the individual channels. By combining the results from many channels the best possible chance for observing the Higgs boson is achieved.
People |
ORCID iD |
Gavin Davies (Principal Investigator) | |
Jonathan Hays (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons in events with multiple bottom quarks at the Tevatron
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2010)
Combined Tevatron upper limit on g g ? H ? W + W - and constraints on the Higgs boson mass in fourth-generation fermion models
in Physical Review D
Aaltonen T
(2012)
Evidence for a particle produced in association with weak bosons and decaying to a bottom-antibottom quark pair in higgs boson searches at the tevatron.
in Physical review letters
Aaltonen T
(2010)
Combination of Tevatron searches for the standard model Higgs boson in the W+W- decay mode.
in Physical review letters
Abazov VM
(2008)
Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the missing energy and acoplanar b-jet topology at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abazov VM
(2010)
Search for the standard model higgs Boson in the ZH-->nunubb channel in 5.2 fb{-1} of pp collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abazov VM
(2008)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons in multi-b-jet events in pp[over] collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV.
in Physical review letters
Abazov VM
(2012)
Combined search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to bb using the D0 run II data set.
in Physical review letters
Abazov V
(2012)
Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the Z H ? ? ? ¯ b b ¯ channel in 9.5 fb-1 of p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Abazov V
(2011)
Search for neutral Higgs bosons in the multi-b-jet topology in 5.2 fb - 1 of p p ¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV
in Physics Letters B
Description | Techniques to perform search for extremely rare objects - such as the Higgs boson - the primary goal here. In particular looked at how to identify / model backgrounds, advanced ideas to identify signal, and suitable statistical techniques to understand the significance of any observation. Ideas carried forward to Higgs discovery. |
Exploitation Route | Ideas used by other Collaborations, in particular as Tim Scanlon and I have both moved to experiments at the LHC. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Used to continue Higgs search at Tevatron and LHC, leading in part to Higgs discovery. |
First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | D0 Collaboration |
Organisation | Fermilab - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Data analysis from D0 experiment and publication of scientific results. |
Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis from D0 experiment and publication of scientific results |
Impact | Scientific publications |
Description | Interaction with the media. VIP visits / interaction with MPs. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interactions with the media related to breaking stories in HEP. Interactions with MPs/ VIPs on visits to CERN and at UK events. NA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011 |
Description | Masterclass presentations / discussion groups and talks at schools. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 150 School children & teachers attended lectures and took part in discussion sessions. Online lectures. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011 |