A search for the standard model Higgs boson using the DELPHI detector at LEP 2

A search for the Standard Model Higgs boson is performed using the 51.59 pb sup - sup 1 of data collected by the DELPHI detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 182.7 GeV. A search is made for the production of Higgs bosons with an on-shell Z boson, with the Higgs boson decaying to b-quarks and the Z to either a dielectron or dimuon pair. No significant excess is seen in the data and hence a 95% CL upper cross- section limit is set as a function of the Higgs boson mass. The results from these leptonic channels are combined with those from other Higgs and Z decay channel analyses using DELPHI data and a 95% CL lower mass limit for the Higgs boson of 87.6 GeV/c sup 2 is set. This limit significantly improves the limit obtained with previous data.