Flavour independent Search for Hadronically decaying Higgs Bosons

The four LEP collaborations ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL have collected around 2.5 fb−1 of e +e − data at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 189 to 209 GeV. This note presents the results from a search for neutral Higgs boson production in the processes e +e − →hZ and e +e − → hA where no assumption is made on the flavour of the hadronic decay products of the Higgs boson. No evidence for a signal is observed and the results are presented as model independent limits on the production cross section for neutral Higgs bosons decaying into hadrons as a function of the Higgs boson mass(es). These limits allow to test predictions from a wide range of (future) models. Preliminary combined results from the four collaborations are presented in the hZ channel. In the hA channel results from the OPAL and DELPHI collaboration are presented separately. In the hZ channel, assuming Higgs boson production with a SM cross section decaying exclusively into hadrons, a limit on the mass of the Higgs boson can be set at 112.9 GeV/c2 .