Abstract
A combined measurement of differential and inclusive total cross sections of Higgs boson production is performed using 36.1 fb−1 of 13 TeV proton–proton collision data produced by the LHC and recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. Cross sections are obtained from measured H→γγ and H→ZZ⁎→4ℓ event yields, which are combined taking into account detector efficiencies, resolution, acceptances and branching fractions. The total Higgs boson production cross section is measured to be 57.0−5.9+6.0 (stat.) −3.3+4.0 (syst.) pb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Differential cross-section measurements are presented for the Higgs boson transverse momentum distribution, Higgs boson rapidity, number of jets produced together with the Higgs boson, and the transverse momentum of the leading jet. The results from the two decay channels are found to be compatible, and their combination agrees with the Standard Model predictions.
Highlights
Differential cross-section measurements are important studies of Higgs boson production, probing Standard Model (SM) pre dictions
This Letter describes the combination of two fiducial cross section measurements in the H → γγ [11] and H → ZZ∗→ 4^ [12] decay channels, which were obtained using 36.1 fb-1 of pp collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2015 and 2016 with a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector [13]
Despite the additional sys tematic uncertainties assigned to the extrapolation to the total phase space, the combination significantly reduces the measure ment uncertainty compared to the results in the individual decay channels
Summary
Differential cross-section measurements are important studies of Higgs boson production, probing Standard Model (SM) pre dictions. Deviations from the predictions could be caused by physics beyond the SM [1,2]. Both the ATLAS and CMS collabo rations have measured differential cross sections in the H → γγ, H → ZZ∗ → 4^ (where ^ = e, μ) and H → WW∗ → eνμν decay channels [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The combined cross section is extracted for the total phase space, increasing the degree of model depen dence compared to the individual measurements, which were per formed in a fiducial phase space close to the selection criteria for reconstructed events in the detector. Despite the additional sys tematic uncertainties assigned to the extrapolation to the total phase space, the combination significantly reduces the measure ment uncertainty compared to the results in the individual decay channels
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