Abstract
A search for Higgs boson decays to invisible particles is performed using 20.3 {{mathrm {fb}}^{-1}} of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The process considered is Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson (V = W or Z) that decays hadronically, resulting in events with two or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No excess of candidates is observed in the data over the background expectation. The results are used to constrain VH production followed by H decaying to invisible particles for the Higgs boson mass range 115<m_H<300 GeV. The 95 % confidence-level observed upper limit on sigma _{VH} times text {BR}(Hrightarrow text {inv.}) varies from 1.6 pb at 115 GeV to 0.13 pb at 300 GeV. Assuming Standard Model production and including the ggrightarrow H contribution as signal, the results also lead to an observed upper limit of 78 % at 95 % confidence level on the branching ratio of Higgs bosons decays to invisible particles at a mass of 125 GeV.
Highlights
Searches for Higgs boson decays to invisible particles (H → inv.) have been performed by both the ATLAS and CMS collaborations [14,19]
The ATLAS Collaboration has placed an upper limit of 75 % [19] on the branching ratio of H → inv. from Higgs boson production in association with a Z boson identified from its leptonic decays (Z → ee, μμ)
The present paper describes an independent search for the H → inv. decay in final states with two or more jets and large events with large missing transverse momentum (ETmiss), motivated by Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson V (V = W or Z ): qq → V H
Summary
Searches for Higgs boson decays to invisible particles (H → inv.) have been performed by both the ATLAS and CMS collaborations [14,19]. Decay in final states with two or more jets and large ETmiss, motivated by Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson V (V = W or Z ): qq → V H. The vector boson is identified through its decay to a pair of quarks, reconstructed as hadronic jets in the ATLAS detector, V → j j. 4. In a previous ATLAS dark-matter search, limits on Higgs boson decays to invisible particles in V H production were set using events with a hadronically decaying vector boson and ETmiss as well [20]. The present analysis achieves better sensitivity by using different techniques and performing dedicated optimizations
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