Search for Higgs Boson Production in Association with a Top-Quark Pair and Decaying to Bottom Quarks or Tau Leptons
A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in
association with a top-quark pair in 19.5 fb−1 of 8 TeV pp
collision data is presented. The analysis is optimized for ttH
events which are categorized into three channels based on the
different final states: lepton + jets channel
(tt→ℓνqq′bb, H→bb), dilepton channel (tt→ℓ+νℓ−νbb, H→bb) and tau channel (tt→ℓνqq′bb,
H→τ+τ−). The major background to the signal is
top-quark pair production with additional jets. Multivariate analysis
(MVA) techniques are used to discriminate between background and
signal events. A simultaneous fit for signal and background is
performed using the MVA output distributions. Assuming standard model Higgs boson
branching fractions, a 95% C.L. upper limit on the ttH
production cross section is presented. In addition, the results from
this analysis are combined with two earlier ttH analyses that
use independent datasets.