The Higgs Boson plays a crucial role in the Standard Model, and this lecture is about the search for the Higgs at LEP, especially in the last year of LEP running, at the highest e+e- collision energies. The experimental signature for Higgs decays has to be picked out from all the other Standard Model processes. The debate on whether to extend the LEP running after a hint of Higgs events was seen gave a nail biting finish to the LEP programme.
Organiser(s): HR-RFA
Note: The lecture will be much easier to understand for students who have followed courses on the Standard Model and on experimental techniques. However, I will give a reminder of the existing constraints on the Higgs mass, and will explain the main production and decay channels, the experimental techniques used to pick out Higgs decays (especially b tagging) and the statistical methods used to assess the significance of the event sample selected.