Searching for Supersymmetric Higgs Bosons at CDF: Why, how and what does the future hold.

Speaker: Anton Anastassov, Northwestern University

When: February 14, 2008 (Thu), 03:30PM to 04:30PM (add to my calendar)
Location: PRB 595

This event is part of the HEE Seminar Series.

Abstract: Is the Higgs boson the last undiscovered Standard Model particle? Or, is it going to be one of the first new particles that point to a more general theory of the deepest structure of matter? Then again, may be there is no Higgs boson to begin with… These questions have a prominent role in shaping the research programs at the energy frontier of particle physics. The CDF Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron has developed a comprehensive program targeted at finding evidence for the elusive Higgs boson(s). Searches for Higgs bosons predicted by extended models are very appealing: a positive result will both confirm the Higgs mechanism and present direct evidence for new physics. In this presentation I concentrate on the latest results obtained within the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) with special emphasis on searches for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to two taus. I will also discus the tau reconstruction and identification techniques used at CDF and the lessons than we have learned for the next generation of new physics searches at the LHC.