Search for the Standard-Model Higgs boson decaying to tau pairs in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV

A search for the standard-model Higgs boson decaying to $\tau$ pairs is performed using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011 and 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 and 8 TeV respectively. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 19.4 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at 8 TeV. The $\tau$-pair invariant mass spectrum is studied in five different final states corresponding to the decay modes of the two $\tau$ leptons. An excess of events is observed over a broad range of Higgs mass hypotheses, with a maximum local significance of $2.93$ standard deviations at $m_{\rm H}$= 120 GeV. The excess is compatible with the presence of a standard-model Higgs boson of mass 125 GeV.