The search potential of a Standard Model Higgs boson in the Vector Boson Fusion production mechanism with Higgs boson decaying to two leptons and two neutrinos via decay to two Z bosons with the ATLAS detector is investigated. The ATLAS detector is a general purpose detector in operation at CERN measuring proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider. This channel has been shown to have high sensitivity at large Higgs mass, where large amounts of missing energy in the signal provide good discrimination over expected backgrounds. This work takes a first look at whether the sensitivity of this channel may be improved using the remnants of the vector boson fusion process to pro- vide extra discrimination, particularly at lower mass where sensitivity of the main analysis is reduced because of lower missing energy. Simulated data samples at centre of mass energy 7 Te V are used to derive signal significances over the mass range between 200-600 Ge V / c2. Because of varying signal properties with mass, a low and a high mass event selection were developed and optimized. A comparison between simulated and real data (collected in 2010) is made of variables used in the analysis and the effect of pileup levels corresponding to those in the 2010 data is investigated. Possible methods to estimate some of the main backgrounds to this search are described and discussed. The impact • of important theoretical and detector related systematics are taken into account. Final results are presented in the form of 95 % Confidence Level exclusion limits on the signal cross section relative to the SM prediction as a function of Higgs boson mass, based on an integrated luminosity of 33.4 pb -1 of data collected during 2010.

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-79). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Qaisar Shafi, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69).

Thesis (M.SC.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-71). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-93).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-27T14:36:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-02-28Bitstream added on 2014-08-27T15:57:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000775145.pdf: 580383 bytes, checksum: 157a2bbc4fd19cf65a3520aec3276fd9 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O modelo331 mínimo consiste em uma extensão ao Modelo Padrão amparada em SU'(3) IND.L' ? U'(1) IND. X'. Os férmions se transformam como tripletos ou anti-tripletos de SU'(3) IND. L' com componentes envolvendo quarks exóticos e partículas conhecidas da fenomenologia atual. Nosso objetivo aqui é explorar qualidades adicionais e limitar novos parâmetros do 331 a partir de processos que violem sabor, como a mistura de mésons neutros / The minimal 331 model has been proposed as an extension of the Standard Model based on the gauge group SU'(3) IND. L' ?U'(1) IND.X'. In this model, the left-handed fermions transform as triplets (or anti-triplets) under the action ofSU'(3) IND. L', whose generations correspond to the known SM fermions and new heavy quarks. Our purpose here is to constrain the 331 parameters considering the limits of ?avour changing processes as meson mixing / FAPESP: 11/16636-6

Resumo: A supersimetria é um tópico importante na física teórica atual. Em particular, tem-se dedicado grande esforço no estudo das extensões supersimétricas do Modelo Padrão (SM) desde a década de 80. A incorporação da supersimetria no SM resulta em uma grande quantidade de modelos. O modelo com o conteúdo mínimo de partículas assim como de interações é chamado o Modelo Mínimo Supersimétrico (MSSM). DEvido à supersimetria, todos os modelos supersimétricos apresentam diferenças com relação ao SM. A principal delas, além do conteúdo de partículas, está no setor de Higgs. Em particular, o setor de Higgs do modelo MSSM contem cinco graus de liberdade (cinco bósons de Higgs), diferentemente do SM, que contem apenas um bóson de Higgs. Outra diferença importante no caso do MSSM deve-se à mistura dos estados associados pela supersimetria aos bósons de Gauge e aos bósons de Higgs, chamados gauginos e higgsinos respectivamente, cujos autoestados de massa são conhecidos como charginos e neutralinos. Estas partículas desempenham um papel fundamental na possível descoberta da supersimetria na escala de energia de TeV's. / Abstract: Supersymmetry is a fundamental topic in the actual theoretical physics. In particular, since the 80's, huge efforts have been done studying the supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model (SM). Including supersymmetry in the SM generates a great amount of models. Among all of these, there is one that involves the minimum number of particles and interactions. This model is known as the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Due to the incorporation of supersymmetry, all the extensions have differences in relation with the SM. The most remarkable one, beyond the particles content, lies in the Higgs sector. Particularly, in the MSSM Higg's sector there are five degrees of freedom (five Higgs bosons), in contrast with the SM (just one). Another difference is related wit the higgsino and gaugino mixture. This result in the presence of mass eigenstates known as charginos and neutralinos. The later particles play a fundamental role in the possible test of supersymmetry at the TeV's scales. / Orientador: Fernando Luiz de Campos Carvalho / Coorientador: Rogério Rosenfeld / Mestre

Orientador: Vicente Pleitez / Banca: Jairo Alexis Rodríguez López / Banca: Orlando Luis Goulart Peres / Resumo: O modelo331 mínimo consiste em uma extensão ao Modelo Padrão amparada em SU'(3) IND.L' ⊗ U'(1) IND. X'. Os férmions se transformam como tripletos ou anti-tripletos de SU'(3) IND. L' com componentes envolvendo quarks exóticos e partículas conhecidas da fenomenologia atual. Nosso objetivo aqui é explorar qualidades adicionais e limitar novos parâmetros do 331 a partir de processos que violem sabor, como a mistura de mésons neutros / Abstract: The minimal 331 model has been proposed as an extension of the Standard Model based on the gauge group SU'(3) IND. L' ⊗U'(1) IND.X'. In this model, the left-handed fermions transform as triplets (or anti-triplets) under the action ofSU'(3) IND. L', whose generations correspond to the known SM fermions and new heavy quarks. Our purpose here is to constrain the 331 parameters considering the limits of flavour changing processes as meson mixing / Mestre

A search for displaced photons from exotic decays of the Higgs boson is presented, specifically targeting the relatively weak constraints on the branching ratio of Higgs boson decays to invisible particles imposed by other searches. 139 fb⁻¹ of 𝑝-𝑝 collision data at center-of-mass energy √𝑠 = 13 TeV, collected between 2015 and 2018, is analyzed. Exploiting the excellent timing performance and longitudinal segmentation of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter, the photon arrival time and extrapolation to the beam axis, or pointing, can be used to extract the displaced photon signature from Standard Model background processes. The background photon timing and pointing distributions are predicted using carefully constructed, data-derived templates. Signal contributions are analyzed in the context of a Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking model in which the Higgs boson decays into two, long-lived next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle neutralinos, which each subsequently decay into a photon and a gravitino. Agreement with background is observed with no significant excesses for any signal models considered. Limits at the 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to two neutralinos in the context of the various signal models.