Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to bottom quarks in pp collisions at s=7 TeV

Abstract

A search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) decaying to bb when produced in association with weak vector bosons (V ) is reported for the following modes: W(??)H, W(e?)H, Z(??)H, Z(ee)H and Z(??)H. The search is performed in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb?1, recorded by the CMS detector in proton?proton collisions at the LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No significant excess of events above the expectation from background is observed. Upper limits on the V H production cross section times the H ? bb branching ratio, with respect to the expectations for a standard model Higgs boson, are derived for a Higgs boson in the mass range 110?135 GeV. In this range, the observed 95% confidence level upper limits vary from 3.4 to 7.5 times the standard model prediction; the corresponding expected limits vary from 2.7 to 6.7 times the standard model prediction.