Evolutionary Neural Network Based Analysis of the ZH to ll bb channel

We present a new technique for the standard model Higgs search in the $ZH\rightarrow l \bar l b \bar b$ decay channel using a genetically-evolved artificial neural network to optimize for sensitivity on 2 fb$^{-1}$ of CDF II data. Our method is based on a maximum-likelihood fit for the $ZH$ fraction in the data sample, using the standard model matrix-element probabilities to construct a likelihood function. This method is augmented with evolved neural networks to maximize the sensitivity to the $ZH$ signal. We will present the methodology and illustrate the gains from the use of the evolved neural network.