Constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson signal strength in the high-mass ZZ and WW final states with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the ZZ and WW final states in the mass range above the 2m<inf>Z</inf>and 2m<inf>W</inf>thresholds provide a unique opportunity to measure the off-shell coupling strength of the Higgs boson. This paper presents constraints on the off-shell Higgs boson event yields normalised to the Standard Model prediction (signal strength) in the ZZ 4l ZZ → 2ℓ2ν and WW → eνμν final states. The result is based on pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb-1at a collision energy of s=8 TeV. Using the $$CL_s$$CLs method, the observed 95\% confidence level (CL) upper limit on the off-shell signal strength is in the range 5.1--8.6, with an expected range of 6.7--11.0. In each case the range is determined by varying the unknown gg → ZZ and gg → WW background K-factor from higher-order quantum chromodynamics corrections between half and twice the value of the known signal K-factor. Assuming the relevant Higgs boson couplings are independent of the energy scale of the Higgs boson production, a combination with the on-shell measurements yields an observed (expected) 95\% CL upper limit on (formula presented) in the range 4.5--7.5 (6.5--11.2) using the same variations of the background K-factor. Assuming that the unknown gg → VV background K-factor is equal to the signal K-factor, this translates into an observed (expected) 95 $$\\%$$\% CL upper limit on the Higgs boson total width of 22.7 (33.0) MeV. \copyright 2015, CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration.