Evidence for the Dimuon Decay of the Higgs Boson in pp Collisions with the ATLAS Detector

Summary, in English

A search for the dimuon decay of the Higgs boson is presented based on pp collision data recorded by ATLAS during Run 3 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 165 fb^-1 at √s = 13.6 TeV. To enhance the sensitivity, the results are combined with those from Run 2. An excess of events over the background is observed with a significance of 3.4σ (2.5σ expected). The best-fit signal strength is μ = 1.4 ± 0.4. This result provides evidence for the H → μμ decay with ATLAS data and offers a direct probe of the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to second-generation fermions. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration.

• Author: G. Aad; T.P.A. Åkesson; K.S.V. Astrand; L. Calic; C. Doglioni; P.A. Ekman; V. Hedberg; H. Herde; B. Konya; E. Lytken; R. Poettgen; O. Smirnova; N. Sur; E.J. Wallin; L. Zwalinski
• Department/s: Particle and nuclear physics; eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration; Department of Physics
• Publishing year: 2025
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 135
• Issue: 23
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/gzdh-p159
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Topic: Subatomic Physics
• Keywords: Colliding beam accelerators; Fermions; Hadrons; ATLAS detectors; Best fit; Direct probe; Higgs boson; Integrated luminosity; Large Hadron Collider; Large-hadron colliders; Second generation; Signal strengths; Yukawa couplings; article; boson; human; Bosons
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0031-9007