Observation of an excess in the search for the standard model Higgs boson using cuts based analyses at ALEPH

In 2000, the final year of LEP running, the LEP accelerator produced its highest ever collision energies with centre of mass energies reaching 210 GeV. In total 217 pb-1 of integrated luminosity were collected by the ALEPH detector. The collected data have been analysed using cuts based analyses for evidence of Standard Model Higgs boson production. An excess of high mass candidate events is observed, corresponding to a significance of 3.1σ above the standard model background expectation, with much of this excess originating in the four jets final state. The production of a Higgs boson with a mass of ∼ 115 GeV/c2 is favoured if the observed excess is attributed to the production of a Standard Model Higgs boson. (author)