QCD radiation effects on the H ---> WW ---> l nu l nu signal at the LHC.

Abstract

The discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson is possible when experimental cuts are applied which increase the ratio of signal and background cross-sections. In this paper we study the pp → H → WW signal cross-section at the LHC which requires a selection of Higgs bosons with small transverse momentum. We compare predictions for the efficiency of the experimental cuts from a NNLO QCD calculation, a calculation of the resummation of logarithms in the transverse momentum of the Higgs boson at NNLL, and the event generator MC@NLO. We also investigate the impact of various jet-algorithms, the underlying event and hadronization on the signal cross-section.