The CMS Collaboration at CERN released a paper today entitled "First Measurement of W+W− Production and Search for Higgs Boson in pp Collisions at √s = 7 TeV". The paper is the first produced by CMS that includes searches for the Higgs boson at the LHC.

If it were to exist, the Higgs boson would explain why the W and Z bosons, responsible for the electroweak force, have mass. It is a cornerstone in the well-established Standard Model of particle physics, which describes extremely well a wide range of observed phenomena and has made successful predictions that have been observed at particle accelerator facilities over the past few decades.

The image shows an event display of a W+W− candidate recorded by CMS.

This paper presents the first cross-section measurement of W+W− production in CMS and the corresponding search for the Higgs boson decaying to a W+ and a W− boson. Each W is observed through its decay into a charged lepton (electron or muon) that is measured in CMS; the corresponding neutrino escapes undetected...

Download the full statement (PDF)

Other resources:

Tags / keywords
Higgs
Higgs boson
w boson
W
W–
W-
W W- production
W W– production
statement

News