UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title A Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs Boson with Hadronically Decaying Tau Leptons in the 20.3 fb^{-1}, \sqrt{s} = 8 TeV Dataset Collected in 2012 by the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61v9g15z Author Clarke, Robert Najem Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California A Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of the 125 GeVp Higgs Boson with Hadronically Decaying Tau Leptons in the 20.3 fb−1, s = 8 TeV Dataset Collected in 2012 by the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider by Robert Najem Clarke A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Marjorie D. Shapiro, Chair Professor Robert G. Jacobsen Professor Karl A. van Bibber Spring 2016 A Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of the 125 GeVp Higgs Boson with Hadronically Decaying Tau Leptons in the 20.3 fb−1, s = 8 TeV Dataset Collected in 2012 by the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider Copyright 2016 by Robert Najem Clarke 1 Abstract A Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of thep 125 GeV Higgs Boson with Hadronically Decaying Tau Leptons in the 20.3 fb−1, s = 8 TeV Dataset Collected in 2012 by the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider by Robert Najem Clarke Doctor of Philosophy in Physics University of California, Berkeley Professor Marjorie D. Shapiro, Chair This dissertation presents a search for lepton-flavor-violating (LFV) decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson in final states of µτhad and eτhad in the full dataset collected by the ATLASp detec- tor in 2012. The search is based on data samples of proton{proton collisions at s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. The topology of LFV events is ex- ploited through an optimized selection of objects and events, with signal and control regions defined by event kinematics. A binned likelihood fit searching for the presence of LFV Higgs decays is performed using the reconstructed Higgs boson mass as the discriminating variable. No such decays are observed. The expected (observed) upper limits at 95% confidence on the branching ratios for the muon and electron final states are found to be Br(H ! µτ) = 1:24% (1.85%) and Br(H ! eτ) = 2:07% (1.81%). i For all my dearest family and friends|I wrote this for you. ii Contents Contents ii List of Figures vi List of Tables xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Theory 4 2.1 The Standard Model . 4 2.1.1 Phenomenology . 4 2.1.1.1 Electroweak Interactions . 7 2.1.1.2 Quantum Chromodynamics . 14 2.1.1.3 Higgs Mechanism . 18 2.1.2 Higgs Boson Production at Proton{Proton Colliders . 21 2.1.3 Decays of the Tau Lepton . 24 2.2 Lepton Flavor Violation . 25 2.2.1 Motivation . 25 2.2.2 Prior Searches . 27 2.2.2.1 Searches with the Discovered Higgs Boson . 27 2.2.2.2 Other Searches . 28 2.2.3 Phenomenology . 28 2.2.3.1 Supersymmetric Models . 30 2.2.3.2 Inverse Seesaw Model . 32 2.2.3.3 Randall{Sundrum Models . 33 3 The LHC and the ATLAS Experiment 35 3.1 The Large Hadron Collider . 35 3.1.1 Layout . 36 3.1.2 Injection Chain . 38 3.1.3 Magnets . 40 3.1.4 Luminosity . 42 iii 3.2 The ATLAS Detector . 43 3.2.1 Coordinates . 45 3.2.2 Inner Detector . 46 3.2.2.1 Pixel Detector . 48 3.2.2.2 Semiconductor Tracker . 50 3.2.2.3 Transition Radiation Tracker . 51 3.2.3 Magnet Systems . 53 3.2.4 Calorimeters . 55 3.2.4.1 Electromagnetic Calorimeter . 56 3.2.4.2 Hadronic Calorimeters . 59 3.2.5 Muon Systems . 61 3.2.5.1 Monitored Drift Tubes . 63 3.2.5.2 Cathode Strip Chambers . 64 3.2.5.3 Resistive Plate Chambers . 64 3.2.5.4 Thin Gap Chambers . 65 3.2.6 Triggers and Data Acquisition . 65 3.2.7 Luminosity Measurement . 68 4 Object Reconstruction 71 4.1 Track and Vertex Reconstruction . 71 4.1.1 Track Reconstruction . 72 4.1.2 Vertex Reconstruction . 73 4.2 Muon Reconstruction and Identification . 75 4.3 Electron Reconstruction and Identification . 76 4.4 Jet Reconstruction . 78 4.4.1 Reconstruction . 79 4.4.2 Identification of b-quark Initiated Jets . 81 4.5 Hadronic Tau Identification . 83 4.6 Missing Transverse Energy Reconstruction . 86 4.7 Higgs Boson Mass Reconstruction . 87 5 Analysis Strategy 90 6 Modeling of Signal and Background Processes 93 6.1 Signal . 96 6.2 Background . 96 6.2.1 Method of Estimation . 96 6.2.2 W + jets . 98 6.2.3 Z ! ττ + jets . 100 6.2.4 Z ! µµ/ee + jets . 103 6.2.5 Top quark . 104 6.2.6 Dibosons, VV ............................... 105 iv 6.2.7 Standard Model H ! ττ . 106 6.2.8 Same-Sign Data, Multijet Background, and rQCD . 106 7 Event Selection 109 7.1 Data . 109 7.2 Trigger . 109 7.3 Object Definitions . 110 7.3.1 Muons and Electrons . 110 7.3.2 Jets . 110 7.3.3 Hadronic Taus . 111 7.4 Object Overlap Removal . 111 7.5 Preselection . 111 8 Signal and Control Regions 113 8.1 Event Categorization . 113 8.2 Signal Region 1 . 118 8.3 Signal Region 2 . 119 8.4 W + jets Control Region . 119 8.5 Top Control Region . 120 8.6 Z ! µµ/ee Control Region . 121 8.7 Multijet Control Regions . 122 8.7.1 Multijet Control Region 1 . 123 8.7.2 Multijet Control Region 2 . 123 9 Systematic Uncertainties 134 9.1 Detector Uncertainties . 135 9.1.1 Muon Uncertainties . 135 9.1.2 Electron Uncertainties . 136 9.1.3 Jet Uncertainties . 137 9.1.3.1 Energy Scale and Resolution . 137 9.1.3.2 b-Tagging . 138 9.1.4 Hadronic Tau Uncertainties . 138 9.1.5 Missing Transverse Energy Uncertainties . 140 9.1.6 Luminosity . 141 9.2 Theory Uncertainties . 142 9.2.1 QCD Scale Uncertainties . 142 9.2.2 Parton Distribution Function Uncertainties . 143 9.2.3 Pile-up Reweighting Uncertainty . 144 9.2.4 H ! ττ Branching Ratio Uncertainty . 145 9.3 Methodological Uncertainties . 145 9.3.1 Uncertainties with the Z ! ττ Embedding Technique . 145 9.3.2 rQCD Measurement Uncertainty . 145 v 9.3.3 Shape Uncertainties . 146 9.3.4 Extrapolation Uncertainties . 146 9.3.5 Uncertainties on k-Factors . 147 10 Signal Extraction 148 10.1 Statistical Tools and Techniques . 149 10.1.1 Hypothesis Testing . 150 10.1.2 Parameter Estimation . 153 10.1.3 Nuisance Parameters . 155 10.1.4 Test Statistics and Exclusion Limits . 156 10.1.5 Expected Limits . ..