Search for neutral Minimally Supersymmetric Standard Model Higgs decaying to two hadronic taus with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at 7 TeV center of mass energy

This thesis presents the first search for a neutral Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model Higgs boson decaying to a pair of hadronic taus in proton-proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV. Results are presented for an integrated luminosity of 1.056 fb−1 using data from the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. After signal selection, 245 events are observed. The number of events is consistent with the background estimate of 256 ± 26. An exclusion limit for the Higgs boson production is derived as a function of (cross-section)×(branching ratio). This limit is presented as a function of two parameters: mA and tanβ in the m_h^max scenario. A point in the (mA, tanβ) phase space is excluded if the signal hypothesis is rejected at the 95% confidence level.