| This dissertation presents the first search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) in decay topologies containing a muon, an imbalance in transverse momentum ( E /T ) and jets, using pp¯ collisions at s = 1.96 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.3 fb-1 recorded with the DO detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. This analysis is sensitive primary to contributions from Higgs bosons produced through gluon fusion, with subsequent decay H → WW → munujj where W represents a real or virtual W boson. In the absence of signal, limits are set at 95% confidence on the production and decay of the standard model Higgs boson for MH in the range of 115--200 GeV. For MH = 165 GeV, the observed and expected limits are factors of 11.2 larger than the standard model value. Combining this channel with enujj final states and including earlier data to increase the integrated luminosity to 5.4 fb-1 produces observed(expected) limits of 5.5(3.8) times the standard model value. |
