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Abstract:
We present a search for Standard Model (SM) Higgs to WW* production in
dilepton plus MET channels using approximately 3.6 fb-1 of integrated
luminosity. In order to maximize sensitivity, the multivariate discriminants have
been optimized separately for final states with either zero, one, or two or more
identified jets. To obtain the best possible sensitivity, we account for potential
Higgs signal contibutions originating from gluon fusion, associated production with
either a W or Z boson, and vector boson fusion. Here, for the first time, we also
incorporate an analysis of a same-sign dilepton event sample which can potentially
contain additional signal events arising from the associated Higgs boson production
mechanisms. In the opposite-sign event sample we observe (summing over all jet bins)
a total of 1085 candidate events compared against an expectation of 1088 ± 105
background events and 20.0 ± 2.5 signal events for a SM Higgs boson with a
mass of 160 GeV/c2. In the same-sign event sample we additionally observe
41 candidate events compared with an expectation of 46.1 ± 8.0 background events
and 1.4 ± 0.2 signal events. Based on these samples, we determine an observed
95% C.L. upper cross section limit of 1.37 times the SM prediction at NNLL for a Higgs
mass of 160 GeV/c2 to be compared with the value for the median of the
expected limit (1.47). Results for thirteen other Higgs mass hypotheses ranging from
110 GeV/c2 to 200 GeV/c2 are also presented.
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