Determining resonance parameters of heavy Higgs bosonsat a future linear collider

This study investigates the potential of an Electron-Positron Linear Collider for measuring resonance parameters of Higgs bosons beyond the mass range studied so far. The analysis is based on the reconstruction of events from the Higgs-strahlung process . It is shown that the total width , the mass m_H and the event rate N can be measured from the mass spectrum in a model independent way. Also, the branching ratios BR ^H_WW and BR ^H_ZZ can be measured, assuming these are the only relevant Higgs decay modes. The simulation includes realistic detector effects and all relevant Standard Model background processes. Results are given for m_H = 200-320 GeV assuming fb^-1 integrated luminosity at a collision energy GeV.Received: 13 February 2004, Revised: 14 April 2004, Published online: 18 May 2004