Search for VBF Standard Model Higgs boson production in the H → WW (∗) decay channel using boosted decision trees

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the Vector Boson Fusion production mode of the H → WW ∗ → lνlν channel at the 125 GeV mass point is presented. Simulated event data from 2011 and 2012 is used to train a Boosted Decision Tree (BDT). The datasets correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.7fb−1 in 2011 and 5.8fb−1 in 2012 at total interaction point energies of √ s = 7 TeV and √ s = 8 TeV, respectively. Using the BDT to enrich the univariate cut-based classifier developed in the previous official ATLAS studies from 2011 and 2012, the expected significance for the existence of a Standard Model Higgs boson is increased from 0.35 to 0.45 standard deviations. The increase amounts to a performance increase of 29 %.