Highly boosted Higgs Search

Contact: Ariel Schwartzman

Very recently it has been proposed that low mass Higgs production in association with a
W boson could be efficiently identified at the LHC if the Higgs is produced with high 
transverse momentum. Highly boosted Higgs decaying to b-quarks produce a signature of 
merged (bb)-jets, which can be distinguished from generic QCD jets.

ATLAS is studying methods based on jet sub-structure to separate (bb)-jets from QCD jets. 
We would like to investigate the use of a neural network technique, similar to the gbb NN 
developed to separate gluon->(bb) jets from b-jets, and study the kinematic differences 
of merged (bb)-jets from gluon splitting and merged (bb)-jets from highly boosted Higgs.

The project consist of studying the properties of merged (bb)-jets from Higgs decays using 
ATLAS detector simulations, identifying promising variables to separate them from QCD jets
(including b-jets from gluon splitting), developing a Neural Network discriminant, 
including sub-jet structure information, and studying the discovery potential of this new 
analysis technique.