Thesis

Decays of the Higgs boson in two tau leptons, and measurement of Higgs couplings

• Call:

  IDPASC Portugal - PHD Programme 2017

• Academic Year:

  2017 / 2018

• Domain:

  Experimental Particle Physics

• Supervisor:

  Pedrame Bargassa

• Co-Supervisor:

  Joao Varela

• Institution:

  Instituto Superior Técnico

• Host Institution:

  Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas

• Abstract:

  The observation of a Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a major discovery of particle physics. This particle can in fact be part of theory beyond the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics where several Higgs bosons would exist at higher masses. In absence of direct observation of heavier Higgs bosons, measurements of the properties of the discovered boson are crucial to determine if it belongs to the SM, possibly opening the gate to new physics. The proposed search aims at measuring the decays of the discovered Higgs boson in pairs of two tau leptons with the highest signal purity; the student will use multivariate analysis tools to this end. He/She will perform a precise measurement of the couplings of the Higgs boson decaying into fermions. With the data expected to be collected during the coming years, the student will ultimately constrain the properties of the SM Higgs boson.