This work delivers the most precise and detailed model-independent picture yet of the Higgs boson at the LHC, and the first such complete measurement at the collider’s highest energy, 13.6 TeV. The results sharpen our understanding of the Higgs and add a new way to study one of its important production mechanisms, known as vector boson fusion. While the measurements are fully consistent with the Standard Model, they also strengthen the search for new physics by placing tighter constraints on alternatives.
Graduate student Spencer Ellis, with the help of postdoctoral researcher Spandan Mondal and under my supervision, has been at the forefront of this international effort. Working with CMS collaborators in the United States and around the world, the team helped develop new analysis methods that improve measurement precision while reducing reliance on theoretical assumptions. They also addressed one of the major experimental challenges of today’s LHC data: distinguishing true Higgs decay products from hadrons that mimic lepton signatures in increasingly complex collisions. Their leadership was especially important in measurements involving jets and in the two-dimensional analysis used to isolate the vector boson fusion contribution.