Limits on the production of the Standard Model Higgs Boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) =7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) running at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported, based on a total integrated luminosity of up to 40 pb^-1 collected by the ATLAS detector in 2010. Several Higgs boson decay channels: H -> γγ, H -> ZZ (*) -> llll, H -> ZZ -> llνν, H -> ZZ -> llqq, H -> W W (*) -> lνlν and H -> W W -> lνqq (l is e, μ) are combined in a mass range from 110 GeV to 600 GeV. The highest sensitivity is achieved in the mass range between 160 GeV and 170 GeV, where the expected 95% CL exclusion sensitivity is at Higgs boson production cross sections 2.3 times the Standard Model prediction. Upper limits on the cross section for its production are determined. Models with a fourth generation of heavy leptons and quarks with Standard Model-like couplings to the Higgs boson are also investigated and are excluded for a Higgs boson mass in the range from 140 GeV to 185 GeV.

19 pages plus author list (31 pages total), 12 figures, 10 tables, final version as it appears in EPJC