Higgs boson production at hadron collidersin the kT-factorization approach

We consider the Higgs boson production at high energy hadron colliders in the framework of the k_T-factorization approach. The attention is focused on the dominant gluon-gluon fusion subprocess. We calculate the total cross section and transverse momentum distributions of the inclusive Higgs production using unintegrated gluon distributions in a proton obtained from the full CCFM evolution equation. We show that k_T-factorization gives a possibility to investigate the associated Higgs boson and jets production. We calculate the transverse momentum distributions and study the Higgs-jet and jet-jet azimuthal correlations in the Higgs + one or two jet production processes. We demonstrate the importance of the higher-order corrections within the k_T-factorization approach. These corrections should be developed and taken into account in the future applications. Received: 26 January 2005, Revised: 8 July 2005, Published online: 6 October 2005     

Searches for invisibly decaying Higgs bosonswith the DELPHI detector at LEP

Searches for H Z production with the Higgs boson decaying into an invisible final state were performed using the data collected by the DELPHI experiment at centre-of-mass energies between 188 GeV and 209 GeV. Both hadronic and leptonic final states of the Z boson were analysed. In addition to the search for a heavy Higgs boson, a dedicated search for a light Higgs boson down to 40 GeV/c² was performed. No signal was found. Assuming the Standard Model HZ production cross-section, the mass limit for invisibly decaying Higgs bosons is 112.1 GeV/c² at 95% confidence level. An interpretation in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) and in a Majoron model is also given.Received: 2 September 2003, Revised: 10 November 2003, Published online: 15 January 2004     

Yukawa corrections to the charged Higgs boson production in association with the top quark at hadron colliders

We calculate the Yukawa corrections of order to charged Higgs boson production in association with a top quark at the Tevatron and the LHC. The corrections are not very sensitive to the mass of the charged Higgs boson and can exceed for low values of , where the contribution of the top quark is large, and high values of where the contribution of the bottom quark becomes large. These Yukawa corrections could be significant for charged Higgs boson searches based on this production process, particularly at the LHC where the cross section is relatively large. Received: 12 October 1999 / Revised version: 3 December 1999 / Published online: 6 April 2000     

The Decay H0 → W+W- in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model

The additional weak corrections at one-loop level to process H₀ → W⁺W^- in the two-fliggsdoublet model are calculated. The corrections from the extra Higgs sector depend strongly on the masses of Higgs sectors and the ratio of vacuum expectation values tanβ. It is shown that the general two-Higgs-doublet model admits flexibility in adjusting the one-loop corrections for the decay. In particular, for the heavy Ho boson the additional corrections imply a 5~14% reduction, when M_Ho < 1 TeV, due to relative light H₁ mass and heavy H₂, Φ masses which we used.     

Beyond the standard model: Working group report

This report summarises the activities of the working group on ‘Physics beyond the Standard Model’. The results of investigations in incorporatingR-parity in grand unification, the possibility of a light charged Higgs boson in extension of MSSM and radiative generation of neutral vector boson self-couplings within the MSSM are described. Also given is an account of activities in neutrino physics, namely a proposal for a study of the atmospheric muon anomaly in deep underground mines, a field theoretic study of neutrino oscillations and a mechanism to generate appropriate masses of three active plus one sterile neutrino species.     

Renormalization group estimate of the hadronic decay width of the Higgs boson

The total hadronic decay width of the Weinberg-Salam type Higgs boson is estimated in QCD for the Higgs boson mass much larger than the ordinary hadronic mass scale, by use of the operator product expansion and renormalization group equation. We give an explicit formula for the decay width in terms of quark masses including strong interaction corrections up to the next-to-leading order. A numerical analysis of the hadronic decay width of the Higgs boson is made in the six-quark model. The next-to-leading order correction is found to be significant, e.g., 30-20% of the leading term for m_H of oue interest, m_H ? 1 TeV. Application of our scheme to the decay rates of heavy Higgs bosons of other types is also discussed.     

Chargino decays in the complex MSSM: a full one-loop analysis

We evaluate two-body decay modes of charginos in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters (cMSSM). Assuming heavy scalar quarks we take into account all decay channels involving charginos, neutralinos, (scalar) leptons, Higgs bosons and Standard Model gauge bosons. The evaluation of the decay widths is based on a full one-loop calculation including hard and soft QED radiation. Special attention is paid to decays involving the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP), i.e. the lightest neutralino, or a neutral or charged Higgs boson. The higher-order corrections of the chargino decay widths involving the LSP can easily reach a level of about ±10%, while the corrections to the decays to Higgs bosons are slightly smaller, translating into corrections of similar size in the respective branching ratios. These corrections are important for the correct interpretation of LSP and Higgs production at the LHC and at a future linear e ⁺ e ⁻ collider. The results will be implemented into the Fortran code FeynHiggs.     

MSSM Higgs boson searches at the Tevatron and the LHC: Impact of different benchmark scenarios

The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. The current limits from the Tevatron and the prospective sensitivities at the LHC are often interpreted in specific MSSM scenarios. For heavy Higgs boson production and subsequent decay into or τ⁺τ^–, the present Tevatron data allow one to set limits in the M_A–tan β plane for small M_A and large tan β values. Similar channels have been explored for the LHC, where the discovery reach extends to higher values of M_A and smaller tan β. Searches for MSSM charged Higgs bosons, produced in top decays or in association with top quarks, have also been investigated at the Tevatron and the LHC. We analyze the current Tevatron limits and prospective LHC sensitivities. We discuss how robust they are with respect to variations of the other MSSM parameters and possible improvements of the theoretical predictions for Higgs boson production and decay. It is shown that the inclusion of supersymmetric radiative corrections to the production cross sections and decay widths leads to important modifications of the present limits on the MSSM parameter space. The impact on the region where only the lightest MSSM Higgs boson can be detected at the LHC is also analyzed. We propose to extend the existing benchmark scenarios by including additional values of the higgsino mass parameter μ. This affects only slightly the search channels for a SM-like Higgs boson, while having a major impact on the searches for non-standard MSSM Higgs bosons.     

Gauge hierarchies and mass bounds

We consider the effects of weak symmetry breaking by radiative corrections in a scheme of gauge hierarchies. We obtain new mass bounds on heavy fermions and show how discovery of a Higgs boson may distinguish between two different approaches to hierarchial spontaneous gauge symmetry breakdown. If there are no intrinsic mass scales below ～10¹⁵ GeV then discovery of a Higgs boson at ～9 GeV implies the existence of heavy fermions.     

Effective gauge theory and the effect of heavy quarks in Higgs boson decays

A general framework is given for evaluating the contributions of as yet undiscovered heavy quarks to the gluonic decay rate of the Weinberg-Salam type Higgs boson. Since the Yukawa coupling of the Higgs boson to a quark pair is proportional to the quark mass, loop graphs involving heavy quarks have a non-vanishing effect on the gluonic decay width of the Higgs boson. This effect of heavy quarks with massesM _j(j=t,...) much greater than the Higgs boson massm _H is calculated in an effective gauge theory. The effects of two different kinds of large logarithms, lnM _j ² /μ m _h ² /μ ² are separated and summed up by the renormalization group method. It is found that the higher order QCD corrections are large and that the gluonic contribution to the hadronic decay width is significant if there are more than three generations. The Higgs decay width can therefore be used to probe the number of generations of heavy quarks.     

Study of W Boson in a Magnetic Field Based upon Both Mass Operator and Effective Potential

A review of W boson properties in a constant magnetic field is given. The one-loop radiative corrections to the W boson mass operator and to the effective potential are taken into account simultaneously. The external field mass-shell equation and the Lorentz condition, which follows from it, also been considered with radiation effects included. The mass operator on the mass-shell in the weak and critical field limits is found and discussed. The critical field tachyon problem is investigated with regard to the radiative corrections. It is argued that the consistent treatment of the W boson in an external magnetic field crucially depends upon the value of the Higgs particle mass. The self consistency argument, related to the zero-charge situation in the critical field region, leads to an upper bound on the Higgs boson mass approximately equal to 280 GeV/c².     

Determining the chirality of Yukawa couplings via single charged Higgs boson production in polarized photon collisions

When the charged Higgs boson is too heavy to be produced in pairs, the predominant production mechanism at linear colliders is via the single charged Higgs boson production processes, such as e(-)e(+)-->bcH+,taunuH+ and gammagamma-->bcH+,taunuH+. We show that the yield of a heavy charged Higgs boson at a gammagamma collider is typically 1 or 2 orders of magnitude larger than that at an e(-)e(+) collider. Furthermore, a polarized gammagamma collider can determine the chirality of the Yukawa couplings of fermions with charged Higgs boson via single charged Higgs boson production and, thus, discriminate models of new physics.     

Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e ⁺ e ^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7 Gev/c² is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL. Received: 13 March 2002 / Revised version: 9 October 2002 / Published online: 13 December 2002     

Towards high-precision predictions for the MSSM Higgs sector

The status of the evaluation of the MSSM Higgs sector is reviewed. The phenomenological impact of recently obtained corrections is discussed. In particular it is shown that the upper bound on m_h within the MSSM is shifted upwards. Consequently, lower limits on obtained by confronting the upper bound as function of with the lower bound on m_h from Higgs searches are significantly weakened. Furthermore, th e region in the M_A--plane where the coupling of the lightest Higgs boson to down-type fermions is suppressed is modified. The presently not calculated higher-order corrections to the Higgs-boson mass matrix are estimated to shift the mass of the lightest Higgs boson by up to 3 GeV. Received: 12 December 2002 / Published online: 3 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: giuseppe.degrassi@roma3.infn.it RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: Sven.Heinemeyer@physik.uni-muenchen.de RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: hollik@mppmu.mpg.de RID="d" ID="d" e-mail: slavich@mppmu.mpg.de RID="e" ID="e" e-mail: Georg.Weiglein@durham.ac.uk     

The Higgs boson sector of the complex MSSM in the Feynman-diagrammatic approach

In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters (cMSSM) we calculate higher order corrections to the Higgs boson sector in the Feynman-diagrammatic approach using the on-shell renormalization scheme. The application of this approach to the cMSSM, being complementary to existing approaches, is analyzed in detail. Numerical examples for the leading fermionic corrections, including the leading two-loop effects, are presented. Numerical agreement within 10% with other approaches is found for small and moderate mixing in the scalar top sector. The leading fermionic corrections, supplemented by the full logarithmic one-loop and the leading two-loop contributions are implemented into the public Fortran code FeynHiggsFastC. Received: 6 August 2001 / Revised version: 8 October 2001 / Published online: 21 November 2001     

Gauge coupling beta functions in the standard model to three loops

In this Letter, we compute the three-loop corrections to the beta functions of the three gauge couplings in the standard model of particle physics using the minimal subtraction scheme and taking into account Yukawa and Higgs self-couplings.     

On the Higgs mass generation mechanism in the Standard Model

The mass-generation mechanism is the most urgent problem of modern particle physics. The discovery and study of the Higgs boson with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are the highest priority steps to solve the problem. In this paper, the Standard Model Higgs mechanism of elementary particle mass generation is reviewed with pedagogical details. The discussion of the Higgs quadric self-coupling λ parameter and the bounds to the Higgs boson mass are presented. In particular, the unitarity, triviality, and stability constraints on the Higgs boson mass are discussed. The generation of a finite value for the λ parameter due to quantum corrections via effective potential is illustrated. Some simple predictions for the top quark and the Higgs boson masses are given when both the top Yukawa coupling and the Higgs self-coupling λ are equal to 1. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Testing Higgs self-couplings at e^+e^- linear colliders

To establish the Higgs mechanism sui generis experimentally, the self-energy potential of the Higgs field must be reconstructed. This task requires the measurement of the trilinear and quadrilinear self-couplings, as predicted, for instance, in the Standard Model or in supersymmetric theories. The couplings can be probed in multiple Higgs production at high-luminosity linear colliders. Complementing earlier studies to develop a coherent picture of the trilinear couplings, we have analyzed the production of pairs of neutral Higgs bosons in all relevant channels of double Higgs-strahlung, associated multiple Higgs production and WW/ZZ fusion to Higgs pairs. Received: 3 March 1999 / Published online: 15 July 1999     

Search for a low mass CP-odd Higgs boson in $\mathrm{e^+e^-}$ collisions with the OPAL detector at LEP2

We have analysed the data collected by OPAL at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV searching for Higgs boson candidates from the process followed by the decay of where is the CP-odd Higgs boson. The search is done in the region where the mass, , is below the production threshold for , and the CP-even Higgs boson mass is within the range 45-86 GeV/c ² . In this kinematic range, the decay of may be dominant and previous Higgs boson searches have very small sensitivities. This search can be interpreted within any model that predicts the existence of at least one scalar and one pseudoscalar Higgs boson. No excess of events is observed above the expected Standard Model backgrounds. Model-independent limits on the cross-section for the process are derived assuming 100% decays of the into and 100% decays of the into each of the following final states: , , , , and . The results are also interpreted in the CP-conserving no-mixing MSSM scenario, where the region and is excluded. Received: 13 March 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003     

Triple and quartic interactions of Higgs bosons in the two-Higgs-doublet model with <Emphasis Type="Italic">CP</Emphasis>-violation

We consider the two-Higgs-doublet model with explicit CP-violation, where the effective Higgs potential is not CP-invariant at the tree level. The three neutral Higgs bosons of the model are the mixtures of CP-even and CP-odd bosons which exist in the CP-conserving limit of the theory. The mass spectrum and tree-level couplings of the neutral Higgs bosons to gauge bosons and fermions are significantly dependent on the parameters of the Higgs boson mixing matrix. We calculate the Higgs-gauge boson, Higgs-fermion, triple and quartic Higgs self-interactions in the MSSM with explicit CP-violation in the Higgs sector and CP-violating Yukawa interactions of the third generation scalar quarks. In some regions of the MSSM parameter space substantial changes of the self-interaction vertices take place, leading to significant suppression or enhancement of the multiple Higgs boson production cross sections. Received: 13 June 2002 / Revised version: 20 November 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2003