Search for a standard model-like Higgs boson in the mu+ mu- and e+ e- decay channels at the LHC

Abstract

A search is presented for a standard model-like Higgs boson decaying to muon pair or electron pair final states based on proton-proton collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 5.0 inverse femtobarns at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 19.7 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV for the muon search, and of 19.7 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV for the electron search. Upper limits on the production cross section times branching fraction at the 95% confidence level are reported for Higgs boson masses in the range from 120 to 150 GeV. For a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV decaying to muons, the observed (expected) upper limit on the production rate is found to be 7.4 (6.5 +2.8 -1.9) times the standard model value. This corresponds to an upper limit on the branching fraction of 0.0016. Similarly, for electrons, an upper limit of 0.0019 is placed on the branching fraction, which is about 3.7 E5 times the standard model value. These results, together with recent evidence of the 125 GeV boson coupling to tau-leptons with a larger branching fraction consistent with the standard model, confirm that the leptonic couplings of the new boson are not flavour-universal.

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Higgs $\to \mu \tau$ in Abelian and Non-Abelian Flavor Symmetry Models
• Experimental constraints on the coupling of the Higgs boson to electrons
• Observation and Measurement of a Standard Model Higgs Boson-like Diphoton Resonance with the CMS Detector