The gauge symmetry is the heart of our understanding of the electroweak interaction and describes all the current experimental results. However, the intrinsic incompatibility between the gauge invariance and the mass of particles leads to the introduction of a new particle, the Higgs boson, for which we have no experimental evidence as of today. This thesis describes the Higgs boson search in the [mu] + [tau] final state in 7.3 fb-1 of pp collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV collected by the DØ detector at the Tevatron. This analysis completes the golden channels (dimuons, electron-muon, dielectrons) exploiting the decay chain H → WW → lvlv , which is the main Higgs boson decay mode in the mass window accessible to the Tevatron. Since the final state includes a lepton, work was done to improve their identification among jets. An increase of 15% was achieved thanks to the the following : changing tuning parameters for the identification neural network, use of the kinematical dependence of the algorithm performances, incorporation of the [tau] lepton life time information and full study of the additionnal information coming from the central preshower measurements. Then, since the dominant background of the [mu] + [tau] Higgs boson search is W+jets (where one jet fakes a [tau] ), a method was developed to obtain good modeling of this background, not provided by the default simulation. This method is based, among other things, on the charge correlation between the muon and the [tau] candidate which allows for calibration of this background in the data excluding the signal region. Finally, all the kinematic and/or topological differences between the signal and the background were exploited to optimize this search, reaching an (observed) expected sensitivity of 7.8 (6.6) times the Standard Model for mH = 165 GeV=c2. In addition, this result was also interpreted in a fourth fermion generation scenario. For the first time, this analysis is included in the D and Tevatron combinations, both presented at Moriond EW and EPS 2011.

The recent observation of the Higgs boson has been hailed as the scientific discovery of the century and led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. This book describes the detailed science behind the decades-long search for this elusive particle at the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN and at the Tevatron at Fermilab and its subsequent discovery and characterization at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Written by physicists who played leading roles in this epic search and discovery, this book is an authoritative and pedagogical exposition of the portrait of the Higgs boson that has emerged from a large number of experimental measurements. As the first of its kind, this book should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in particle physics.

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson in final states with an electron or muon and a hadronically decaying tau lepton in association with zero, one, or two or more jets using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 7.3 fb−1 collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The analysis is sensitive to Higgs boson production via gluon gluon fusion, associated vector boson production, and vector boson fusion, and to Higgs boson decays to tau lepton pairs or W boson pairs. Observed (expected) limits are set on the ratio of 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching ratio, relative to those predicted by the Standard Model, of 14 (22) at a Higgs boson mass of 115 GeV and 7.7 (6.8) at 165 GeV.

This book describes the searches that lead to the discovery of a Higgs boson performed at CMS, one of the two main experiments at the CERN LHC. After an overview of the theory and of the CMS experiment, all search channels are described, with emphasis on the ones with the best sensitivity. The statistical methodology used to analyse and the outcomes of the searches and the discovery results are then presented in detail.

In this work, the interaction between the Higgs boson and the top quark is studied with the proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV provided by the LHC at the CMS detector at CERN (Geneva). At the LHC, these particles are produced simultaneously via the associate production of the Higgs boson with one top quark (tH process) or two top quarks (ttH process). Compared to many other possible outcomes of the proton-proton interactions, these processes are very rare, as the top quark and the Higgs boson are the heaviest elementary particles known. Hence, identifying them constitutes a significant experimental challenge. A high particle selection efficiency in the CMS detector is therefore crucial. At the core of this selection stands the Level-1 (L1) trigger system, a system that filters collision events to retain only those with potential interest for physics analysis. The selection of hadronically decaying τ leptons, expected from the Higgs boson decays, is especially demanding due to the large background arising from the QCD interactions. The first part of this thesis presents the optimization of the L1 τ algorithm in Run 2 (2016-2018) and Run 3 (2022-2024) of the LHC. It includes the development of a novel trigger concept for the High-Luminosity LHC, foreseen to start in 2027 and to deliver 5 times the current instantaneous luminosity. To this end, sophisticated algorithms based on machine learning approaches are used, facilitated by the increasingly modern technology and powerful computation of the trigger system. The second part of the work presents the search of the tH and ttH processes with the subsequent decays of the Higgs boson to pairs of τ lepton, W bosons or Z bosons, making use of the data recorded during Run 2. The presence of multiple particles in the final state, along with the low cross section of the processes, makes the search an ideal use case for multivariant discriminants that enhance the selectivity of the signals and reject the overwhelming background contributions. The discriminants presented are built using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, able to capture the correlations amongst the processes involved, as well as the so-called Matrix Element Method (MEM), which combines the theoretical description of the processes with the detector resolution effects. The level of sophistication of the methods used, along with the unprecedented amount of collision data analyzed, result in the most stringent measurements of the tH and ttH cross sections up to date.

This thesis presents a study of the scalar sector in the standard model (SM), as well as various searches for an extended scalar sector in theories beyond the SM (BSM). The first part of the thesis details the search for an SM Higgs boson decaying to taus, and produced by gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, or associated production with a vector boson, leading to evidence for decays of the Higgs boson to taus. In turn, the second part highlights several searches for an extended scalar sector, with scalar boson decays to taus. In all of the analyses presented, at least one scalar boson decays to a pair of taus. The results draw on data collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector during proton–proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 7 or 8 TeV.