Description
- Abstract:
- This dissertation presents a search for the signature of the production of previously unobserved particles being produced in the proton-proton collisions of the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The particular signature that this search focuses on is a resonant production of a Higgs boson in conjunction with a photon, a signal that various models that go beyond the standard model of particle physics predict, including theories with a Z’ boson. A detailed analysis of the data collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid detector corresponding to 35.9 inverse femtobarns of data is performed to hunt for any "bumps" arising in the invariant mass spectrum of events that contained a photon and a jet consistent with the hadronic decay of a Higgs boson. In order to maximize the sensitivity of this search, new and innovative techniques are employed, including the application of new pile-up mitigation algorithms, advanced jet grooming algorithms, and machine-learning trained discriminating algorithms for identifying the distinctive hadronic jets that develop from the decay of a Higgs boson into a pair of bottom quarks. An overview of LHC physics and the CMS detector is given to contextualize this work.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2019
Citation
Hakala, John,
"A Search for Exotic Particles that Decay into a Higgs Boson and a Photon with the CMS Detector at the CERN LHC"
(2019).
Physics Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:39emhpgx/
