3.5 sigmas refers to the probability of some statistic being as severe as they're observing under a model where the Higgs does not exist. Regardless of the dist

3.5 sigmas refers to the probability of some statistic being as severe as they're observing under a model where the Higgs does not exist. Regardless of the distribution, Chebyshev applies solely by assumption that sigma is a meaningful unit. It may be overly conservative though.