Combined Standard Model Higgs boson searches with up to 2.3 inverse femtobarns of pp collision data at sqrt(s)=7 TeV at the LHC

A combination of searches for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC is presented. The dataset used corresonds to an integrated luminosity per experiment ranging from 1.0 to 2.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The combination includes searches using the following Higgs boson decay signatures: H$\;\to\gamma\gamma$, H$\;\to\;$bb, H$\;\to\tau\tau$, H$\;\to\;$WW$\,(\ell\nu\ell\nu)$ and H$\;\to\;$ZZ$\,(4\ell, 2\ell 2\nu, 2\ell 2\mathrm{q}, 2\ell 2\tau)$. The SM Higgs boson masses tested in these searches range from 110 to 600 GeV$/c^2$. The expected exclusion region in the absence of a signal is 124--520 GeV$/c^2$. The observed data are compatible with the background-only hypothesis and the SM Higgs boson is excluded at 95\% confidence level (C.L.) or higher in the mass range 141--476 GeV$/c^2$. The region from 146 to 443 GeV$/c^2$ is excluded at 99\% C.L., with the exception of three small regions between 220 and 320 GeV$/c^2$.