Search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon via vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of b-quarks in the ATLAS detector



Aad, G, Aakvaag, E, Abbott, B, Abdelhameed, S, Abeling, K, Abicht, NJ, Abidi, SH, Aboelela, M, Aboulhorma, A, Abramowicz, H
et al (show 2862 more authors) (2026) Search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon via vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of b-quarks in the ATLAS detector PHYSICS LETTERS B, 877. 140279-. ISSN 0370-2693, 1873-2445

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Abstract

A search for Standard Model Higgs bosons produced in association with a high-energy photon and decaying to bb¯ is performed using 133 fb−1 of s=13 TeV pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The photon requirement reduces the multijet background, and the H→bb¯ decay is the dominant decay mode. Event selection requirements target events produced by vector-boson fusion, the dominant production mode in this channel. Several improvements enhance the search sensitivity compared to previous measurements. These improvements include better background modelling and characterization, the use of a neural-network classifier, and an updated signal extraction strategy adopting a direct binned-likelihood fit to the classifier output. With these improvements, the Higgs boson signal strength is measured to be 0.2 ± 0.7 relative to the Standard Model prediction. This corresponds to an observed significance of 0.3 standard deviations, compared to an expectation of 1.5 standard deviations assuming the Standard Model.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Higgs boson, Vector boson fusion, Higgs plus photon production, Higgs decay to bottom quarks, ATLAS experiment, Large Hadron Collider
Divisions: Faculty of Science & Engineering
Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Physical Sciences > Physics
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 16 Mar 2026 09:41
Last Modified: 12 Jun 2026 17:28
DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140279
Open Access URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3197528
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