First Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson Using the Semileptonic Decay Channel: H-WW----

This dissertation presents the first search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) in decay topologies containing a muon, an imbalance in transverse momentum (̸E T ) and jets, using p¯p collisions at √ s = 1.96 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.3 fb −1 recorded with the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. This analysis is sensitive primary to contributions from Higgs bosons produced through gluon fusion, with subsequent decay H → WW→ µνjj where W represents a real or virtual W boson. In the absence of signal, limits are set at 95onfidence on the production and decay of the standard model Higgs boson for M H in the range of 115−200 GeV. For M H = 165 GeV, the observed and expected limits are factors of 11.2 larger than the standard model value. Combining this channel with eνjj final states and including earlier data to increase the integrated luminosity to 5.4 fb −1 produces observed(expected) limits of 5.5(3.8) times the standard model value.

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