Abstract:

In the data collected at LEP in 2000, the searches for Higgs bosons revealed an excess corresponding to approximately three standard deviations from the background expectation. This exciting result hints at the existence of a Higgs boson with mass 115 GeV/ , in agreement with the indirect prediction of precise electroweak measurements. In order for the combination of the four LEP experiments to become sensitive to such high Higgs boson masses, the LEP collider had to be pushed at, and indeed beyond its limits. The elements which led to what could be the first observation of the Higgs boson will be presented.