Search for Higgs bosons decaying to WW in e(+)e(-) stope collisions at LEP

A search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a fermion pair, and decaying to WW, is performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 191 to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 453.2 pb(-1). Thirteen exclusive selections are developed according to the different final state topologies. No statistically significant evidence for a Higgs boson decaying into a WW pair has been found. An upper limit is derived, as a function of the Higgs boson mass, on the product of the e(+)e(-)-> Hf (f) over bar cross section and the H -> WW branching ratio. The data on the search for H -> WW are combined with previously published ALEPH results on the search for H ->gamma gamma, to significantly extend the limits on the mass of a fermiophobic Higgs boson.