Combined search for anomalous pseudoscalar HVV couplings in VH(H $\to b \bar b$) production and H $\to$ VV decay

A search for anomalous pseudoscalar couplings of the Higgs boson H to electroweak vector bosons V ( =W or Z) in a sample of proton–proton collision events corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.9 fb −1 at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV is presented. Events consistent with the topology of associated VH production, where the Higgs boson decays to a pair of bottom quarks and the vector boson decays leptonically, are analyzed. The consistency of data with a potential pseudoscalar contribution to the HVV interaction, expressed by the effective pseudoscalar cross section fractions fa3 , is assessed by means of profile likelihood scans. Results are given for the VH channels alone and for a combined analysis of the VH and previously published H→VV channels. Under certain assumptions, fa3ZZ>0.0034 is excluded at 95% confidence level in the combination. Scenarios in which these assumptions are relaxed are also considered.