CONTRIBUTION OF TRANSVERSE GAUGE BOSONS TO HIGGS PRODUCTION AND THE EQUIVALENT VECTOR BOSON APPROXIMATION

It is shown that for intermediate Higgs masses, in the range 0.3– 0.6 TeV, the contribution σ T of the transversely polarized gauge bosons (V) to the process qq→qqVV→qqH , in the leading log (LL) Equivalent Vector Boson Approximation (EVBA) is comparable to the contribution σ L of the longitudinal ones. As a result the LL EVBA for σ=σ L +σ T overestimates the exact total cross-section by ~100–200 % at the q 1 q 2 centre of mass energies of interest for SSC; viz. 5–10 TeV. An improved formulation of the EVBA leads to modified vector boson densities. These densities lead to an EVBA estimate, including the transverse contributions, which agrees with the exact calculation, for m H as low as 0.3 TeV, within 20–30 % upto quark energies ~5–10 TeV .