Higgs Boson Production at Hadron Colliders: Signal and Background Processes

TL;DR

This paper surveys the theoretical status of Higgs production at hadron colliders, focusing on signal and background cross sections across the main production mechanisms (gluon fusion, weak-boson fusion, Higgsstrahlung, and associated top/bottom production) and several decay channels. It highlights recent advances, notably NNLO QCD corrections to gluon fusion and NLO corrections to key backgrounds, as well as the remaining gaps in NLO tools and jet-veto modeling crucial for precise coupling measurements at the LHC. The authors emphasize how these theoretical developments influence experimental strategies and the interpretation of Higgs signals, including MSSM scenarios with enhanced bottom Yukawa couplings and tau/lepton final states. The work provides a roadmap for achieving percent-level precision in Higgs coupling determinations by addressing both calculational improvements and data-driven background assessments at the LHC.

Abstract

We review the theoretical status of signal and background calculations for Higgs boson production at hadron colliders. Particular emphasis is given to missing NLO results, which will play a crucial role for the Tevatron and the LHC.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Typical diagram contributing to $gg\to \phi$ at lowest order.
• Figure 2: Scale dependence of the $K$-factor at the LHC. Lower curves for each pair are for $\mu_R = 2m_H$, $\mu_F=m_H/2$, upper curves are for $\mu_R =m_H/2$, $\mu_F=2m_H$. The $K$-factor is computed with respect to the LO cross section at $\mu_R = \mu_F =m_H$. From Ref. Harlander:2002wh.
• Figure 3: Expected relative error on the determination of $B\sigma$ for various Higgs search channels at the LHC with 200 fb$^{-1}\;$ of data Zeppenfeld:2000td. Solid lines are for inclusive Higgs production channels which are dominated by gluon fusion. Expectations for weak boson fusion are given by the dashed lines. Dotted lines are for $t\bar{t}H$ production with $H\to b\bar{b}$drollinger:2001ym (black) and $H\to W^+W^-$tth2ww (red). The latter assumes 300 fb$^{-1}\;$ of data.
• Figure 4: Typical diagrams contributing to $gg\to \gamma\gamma jj$ at lowest order.
• Figure 5: Contributions of background systematic errors $\Delta\sigma$ to a measurement of $\sigma_H=\sigma B(H\to WW)$ in WBF. Shown, from bottom to top, are the effects of a 10% uncertainty of the $\tau\tau jj$ rate (dotted line), a 50% error on the QCD WWjj rate (blue dash-dotted), a 30% error on the electroweak WWjj rate (green dash-dotted), and a 10% error on $\sigma(t\bar{t}+$jets) (red dashes). The long-dashed line adds these errors in quadrature. For comparison, the solid line shows the expected statistical error for 200 fb$^{-1}\;$. The vertical line at 145 GeV separates analyses optimized for small wbf.wwlomh and large wwhimH Higgs masses.