Elsevier

Physics Letters B

Volume 716, Issue 1, 17 September 2012, Pages 30-61
Physics Letters B

Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC

This paper is dedicated to the memory of our colleagues who worked on CMS but have since passed away. In recognition of their many contributions to the achievement of this observation.
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Abstract

Results are presented from searches for the standard model Higgs boson in proton–proton collisions at s=7 and 8 TeV in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the LHC, using data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 fb−1 at 7 TeV and 5.3 fb−1 at 8 TeV. The search is performed in five decay modes: γγ, ZZ, W+W, τ+τ, and bb¯. An excess of events is observed above the expected background, with a local significance of 5.0 standard deviations, at a mass near 125 GeV, signalling the production of a new particle. The expected significance for a standard model Higgs boson of that mass is 5.8 standard deviations. The excess is most significant in the two decay modes with the best mass resolution, γγ and ZZ; a fit to these signals gives a mass of 125.3±0.4(stat.)±0.5(syst.) GeV. The decay to two photons indicates that the new particle is a boson with spin different from one.

Keywords

CMS
Physics
Higgs

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© CERN for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration.

E-mail address: [email protected].

Deceased.

1

Also at Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.