WORK PROJECT REPORT Search for degenerate Higgs bosons

Degenerate Higgs bosons have been searched as a summer student project. The goal was to implement an algorithm which would help to understand if there could be two Higgs bosons with very similar masses from the matrix of measured signal strengths $(\sigma\cdot B)_\mathrm{meas.}/(\sigma\cdot B)_\mathrm{SM}$ in different final states. The statistical compatibility of the observed data with a matrix of rank 1 has been evaluated. Using CMS data from the $\gamma\gamma$ and $W^{+}W^{-}$ decay channels, a result compatible with a single Higgs boson at the level of 38% is obtained. A generalization of the algorithm to allow using all available data in the 5x4 signal strength matrix is also presented.