Published November 2022 | Version public
Journal Article

Measurement of the Higgs boson width and evidence of its off-shell contributions to ZZ production

Creators

Abstract

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, detailed studies of its properties have been ongoing. Besides its mass, its width—related to its lifetime—is an important parameter. One way to determine this quantity is to measure its off-shell production, where the Higgs boson mass is far away from its nominal value, and relating it to its on-shell production, where the mass is close to the nominal value. Here we report evidence for such off-shell contributions to the production cross-section of two Z bosons with data from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We constrain the total rate of the off-shell Higgs boson contribution beyond the Z boson pair production threshold, relative to its standard model expectation, to the interval [0.0061, 2.0] at the 95% confidence level. The scenario with no off-shell contribution is excluded at a p-value of 0.0003 (3.6 standard deviations). We measure the width of the Higgs boson as Γ_H = 3.2^(+2.4)_(−1.7) MeV, in agreement with the standard model expectation of 4.1 MeV. In addition, we set constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings to W and Z boson pairs.

Additional Information

We congratulate our colleagues in the CERN accelerator departments for the excellent performance of the LHC and thank the technical and administrative staffs at CERN and at other CMS institutes for their contributions to the success of the CMS effort. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the computing centres and personnel of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid and other centres for delivering so effectively the computing infrastructure essential to our analyses. Finally, we acknowledge the enduring support for the construction and operation of the LHC, the CMS detector, and the supporting computing infrastructure provided by the following funding agencies: BMBWF and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, FAPERGS and FAPESP (Brazil); MES and BNSF (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST and NSFC (China); MINCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES and CSF (Croatia); RIF (Cyprus); SENESCYT (Ecuador); MoER, ERC PUT and ERDF (Estonia); Academy of Finland, MEC and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG and HGF (Germany); GSRI (Greece); NKFIA (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); MSIP and NRF (Republic of Korea); MES (Latvia); LAS (Lithuania); MOE and UM (Malaysia); BUAP, CINVESTAV, CONACYT, LNS, SEP and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MOS (Montenegro); MBIE (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Dubna); MON, RosAtom, RAS, RFBR and NRC KI (Russia); MESTD (Serbia); MCIN/AEI and PCTI (Spain); MOSTR (Sri Lanka); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); MST (Taipei); ThEPCenter, IPST, STAR and NSTDA (Thailand); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); NASU (Ukraine); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (United States). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant under contracts nos. 675440, 724704, 752730, 758316, 765710, 824093, 884104 and COST Action CA16108 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F.R.S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the 'Excellence of Science—EOS' – be.h project no. 30820817; the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, no. Z191100007219010; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), under Germany's Excellence Strategy—EXC 2121 'Quantum Universe'—390833306, and under project no. 400140256—GRK2497; the Lendület ('Momentum') Program and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program ÚNKP, NKFIA research grants 123842, 123959, 124845, 124850, 125105, 128713, 128786 and 129058 (Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research (India); the Latvian Council of Science; the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the National Science Center, contracts Opus 2014/15/B/ST2/03998 and 2015/19/B/ST2/02861 (Poland); the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant no. CEECIND/01334/2018 (Portugal); the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (projects nos. 0723-2020-0041 and FSWW-2020-0008) (Russia); MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, ERDF 'a way of making Europe', and the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu, grant no. MDM-2017-0765 and Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias (Spain); the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Greece); the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); the Kavli Foundation; the Nvidia Corporation; the SuperMicro Corporation; the Welch Foundation, contract no. C-1845; and the Weston Havens Foundation (United States). The copyright of this Article is held by CERN, for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
117709
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20221103-652750400.33

Funding

Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung Und Wirtschaft (BMWFW)
FWF Der Wissenschaftsfond
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS)
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
Ministry of Education and Science (Bulgaria)
CERN
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ministry of Science and Technology (China)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS)
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport (Croatia)
Croatian Science Foundation
Research Promotion Foundation (Cyprus)
Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT)
Ministry of Education and Research (Estonia)
Estonian Research Council
PUT (Estonia)
European Regional Development Fund (Estonia)
Academy of Finland
Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland)
Helsinki Institute of Physics
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3)
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF)
General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT)
Department of Atomic Energy (India)
Department of Science and Technology (India)
Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics (Iran)
Science Foundation, Ireland
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (Korea)
National Research Foundation of Korea
Ministry of Education and Science (Latvia)
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
Ministry of Education (Malaysia)
University of Malaya
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP)
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV)
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT)
Laboratorio Nacional de Supercómputo (LNS)
Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP)
Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí Inicio-Facultad de Ingeniería (UASLP-FAI)
Ministero della Scienza del Montenegro (MOS)
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (New Zealand)
Atomic Energy Commission (Pakistan)
Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland)
National Science Centre (Poland)
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR)
RosAtom
Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Foundation for Basic Research
National Research Center, Kurchatov Institute (Russia)
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (Serbia)
Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (SEIDI)
Centro Nacional de Física de Partículas, Astropartículas y Nuclear (CPAN)
Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovació (PCTI)
Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)
Ministry of Science, Technology and Research (Sri Lanka)
Swiss Funding Agencies
Ministry of Science and Technology (Taipei)
Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics
Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (Thailand)
Special Task Force for Activating Research (Thailand)
National Science and Technology Development Agency (Thailand)
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK)
Türkiye Atom Enerjisi Kurumu (TAEK)
National Academy of Sciences (Ukraine)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Department of Energy (DOE)
NSF
Marie Curie Fellowship
European Research Council (ERC)
675440
European Research Council (ERC)
724704
European Research Council (ERC)
752730
European Research Council (ERC)
758316
European Research Council (ERC)
765710
European Research Council (ERC)
824093
European Research Council (ERC)
884104
European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)
CA16108
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)
Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium)
Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium)
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS)
30820817
Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission
Z191100007219010
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (Czech Republic)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
EXC 2121
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
390833306
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
400140256 – GRK2497
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
123842
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
123959
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
124845
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
124850
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
125105
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
128713
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
128786
National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA)
129058
Council of Science and Industrial Research (India)
Latvian Council of Science
Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland)
National Science Center (Poland)
OPUS Program
2014/15/B/ST2/03998
OPUS Program
2015/19/B/ST2/02861
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)
CEECIND/01334/2018
Qatar National Research Fund National Priorities Research Program
Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Russia)
0723-2020-0041
Tomsk Polytechnic University
FSWW-2020-0008
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO)
10.13039/501100011033
European Regional Development Fund
Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu
MDM-2017-0765
Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Rachadapisek Sompot Fund, Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand)
Kavli Foundation
Nvidia Corporation
SuperMicro Corporation
Robert A. Welch Foundation
C-1845
Weston Havens Foundation

Dates

Created
2022-11-17
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-03-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

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