Evidence for the $VH, H\rightarrow \tau\tau$ process with the ATLAS detector in Run 2

• Published in: Physics letters. B 2024, Vol.855
• Main Authors: Aad, Georges, Aakvaag, Erlend, Abbott, Braden Keim, Abeling, Kira, Abicht, Nils Julius, Abidi, Haider, Aboulhorma, Asmaa, Abramowicz, Halina, Abreu, Henso, Abulaiti, Yiming, Acharya, Bobby Samir, Adam Bourdarios, Claire, Adamczyk, Leszek, Addepalli, Sagar, Addison, Matt, Adelman, Jahred, Adiguzel, Aytul, Adye, Tim, Affolder, Tony, Afik, Yoav, Agaras, Merve Nazlim, Agarwala, Jinky, Aggarwal, Anamika, Agheorghiesei, Catalin, Ahmad, Ammara, Ahmadov, Faig, Ahmed, Waleed Syed, Ahuja, Sudha, Ai, Xiaocong, Aielli, Giulio, Aikot, Arya, Ait Tamlihat, Malak, Aitbenchikh, Brahim, Aizenberg, Iakov, Akbiyik, Melike, Akesson, Torsten, Akimov, Andrei, Akiyama, Daiya, Akolkar, Nilima Nilesh, Aktas, Sina, Al Khoury, Konie, Alberghi, Gian Luigi, Albert, Justin, Albicocco, Pietro, Albouy, Guillaume Lucas, Alderweireldt, Sara, Alegria, Zackary Lee, Aleksa, Martin, Alexandrov, Igor, Alexa, Calin, Alexopoulos, Theodoros, Alfonsi, Fabrizio, Algren, Malte, Alhroob, Muhammad, Ali, Babar, Ali, Hanadi, Ali, Shahzad, Alibocus, Samuel William, Aliev, Malik, Alimonti, Gianluca, Alkakhi, Wael, Allaire, Corentin, Allbrooke, Benedict, Allen, Julia Frances, Allendes Flores, Cristian Andres, Allport, Philip Patrick, Aloisio, Alberto, Alonso, Francisco, Alpigiani, Cristiano, Alvarez Estevez, Manuel, Alvarez Fernandez, Adrian, Alves Cardoso, Mario, Alviggi, Mariagrazia, Aly, Mohamed, Do Amaral Coutinho, Yara, Ambler, Alessandro, Amelung, Christoph, Amerl, Maximilian, Ames, Christoph, Amidei, Dante, Amirie, Kyle, Amor dos Santos, Susana Patricia, Amos, Kieran Robert, Ananiev, Viktor, Anastopoulos, Christos, Andeen, Timothy Robert, Anders, John Kenneth, Andrean, Stefio Yosse, Andreazza, Attilio, Angelidakis, Stylianos, Angerami, Aaron, Anisenkov, Alexey, Annovi, Alberto, Antel, Claire, Anthony, Matthew Thomas, Antipov, Egor, Antonelli, Mario, Anulli, Fabio, Aoki, Masato, Aoki, Takumi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics
• ISSN: 0370-2693
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2024.138817

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced in association with a $W$ or $Z$ boson and decaying into a pair of $\tau$-leptons is presented. This search is based on proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. For the Higgs boson candidate, only final states with at least one $\tau$ decaying hadronically ($\tau\rightarrow \mathrm{hadrons} + \nu_\tau$) are considered. For the vector bosons, only leptonic decay channels are considered: $Z \rightarrow \ell\ell$ and $W\rightarrow \ell\nu_\ell$, with $\ell=e,\mu$. An excess of events over the expected background is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.2 (3.6) standard deviations, providing evidence of the Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson and decaying into a pair of $\tau$-leptons. The ratio of the measured cross-section to the Standard Model prediction is $\mu_{\text{VH}}^{\tau\tau} = 1.28\ ^{+0.30}_{-0.29}\ (\mathrm{stat.})\ ^{+0.25}_{-0.21}\ (\mathrm{syst.})$.