Evidence for a Particle Produced in Association with Weak Bosons and Decaying to a Bottom-Antibottom Quark Pair in Higgs Boson Searches at the Tevatron

Abstract

We combine searches by the CDF and D0 Collaborations for the associated production of a Higgs boson with a W or Z boson and subsequent decay of the Higgs boson to a bottom-antibottom quark pair. The data, originating from Fermilab Tevatron pp collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV, correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 9.7 fb(-1). The searches are conducted for a Higgs boson with mass in the range 100-150 GeV/c(2). We observe an excess of events in the data compared with the background predictions, which is most significant in the mass range between 120 and 135 GeV/c(2). The largest local significance is 3.3 standard deviations, corresponding to a global significance of 3.1 standard deviations. We interpret this as evidence for the presence of a new particle consistent with the standard model Higgs boson, which is produced in association with a weak vector boson and decays to a bottom-antibottom quark pair.