HIGGS BOSON PRODUCTION AT THE LHC

TL;DR

The paper provides a comprehensive next-to-leading order QCD treatment of Higgs boson production at the LHC, for both the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension. It analyzes Higgs decay widths to two photons and to gluons, including heavy-quark loop dynamics and effective Lagrangians, and derives the corresponding QCD corrections. The results show large, positive K-factors that significantly raise predicted production cross sections and reduce scale uncertainties, enhancing the prospects for Higgs discovery in multiple channels. These advances yield robust predictions crucial for interpreting LHC data and exploring MSSM Higgs phenomenology.

Abstract

Gluon fusion is the main production mechanism for Higgs particles at the LHC. We present the QCD corrections to the fusion cross sections for the Higgs boson in the Standard Model, and for the neutral Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. The QCD corrections are in general large and they increase the cross sections significantly. In two steps preceding the calculation of the production processes, we determine the QCD radiative corrections to Higgs decays into two photons and gluons.