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Title: Three-jet final states and measuring the [gamma][gamma] width of the Higgs boson at a photon linear collider

Journal Article · · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)
 [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
  3. Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 (United States)

The identification of the intermediate-mass Higgs process [gamma][gamma][r arrow][ital H][r arrow][ital b[bar b]] will be one of the most important goals of a future photon linear collider. Potentially important backgrounds from the continuum [gamma][gamma][r arrow][ital c[bar c]],[ital b[bar b]] leading-order processes can be suppressed by a factor [ital m][sub [ital q]][sup 2]/[ital s] by using polarized photon beams in the [ital J][sub [ital z]]=0 initial-state configuration. We show that the same [ital m][sub [ital q]][sup 2]/[ital s] suppressions do not necessarily apply to the radiative processes [gamma][gamma][r arrow][ital c[bar c]g],[ital b[bar b]g]. These processes can mimic the two-jet topology of the Higgs signal when two of the three partons are collinear, or when one of the partons is soft or directed down the beam pipe. We calculate the contribution of these processes to the two-jet background in the [ital J][sub [ital z]]=0 channel. The largest background is from the [gamma][gamma][r arrow][ital c[bar c]g][r arrow]2 jet process, which yields a cross section in excess of the Higgs signal. We investigate the effect of imposing additional event shape, jet width, and secondary vertex cuts on both signal and background, and show that with reasonable detector capabilities it should be possible to reduce the background to a manageable level.

DOE Contract Number:
FG03-91ER40674
OSTI ID:
6953922
Journal Information:
Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 50:7; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English