Particle production in a hadron collider rapidity gap: the Higgs case

• Published in: Nuclear physics. B Vol. 471; no. 3; pp. 471 - 499
• Main Authors: Cudell, Jean-René, Hernández, Oscar F.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.07.1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Diffraction; diffractive QCD; Form factors; Higgs; Higgs production; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physics; Physique; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Pomeron; QCD; rapidity gap; Rapidity gaps; 13.85; Diffraction; QCD; 25.40.C; Pomeron; Rapidity gaps; 14.80.B; 12.38; Form factors; Higgs production
• ISSN: 0550-3213; 1873-1562; 1873-1562
• DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(96)00193-9

Production of rare particles within rapidity gaps has been proposed as a background-free signal for the detection of new physics at hadron colliders. No complete formalism accounts for such processes yet. We study a simple lowest-order QCD model for their description. Concentrating on Higgs production, we show that the calculation of the cross section pp → ppH can be embedded into existing models which successfully account for diffractive data. We extend those models to take into account single- and double-diffractive cross sections pp → HX 1 X 2 with a gap between the fragments X 1 and X 2. Using conservative scenarios, we evaluate the uncertainties in our calculation, and study the dependence of the cross section on the gap width. We predict that Higgs production within a gap of 4 units of rapidity is about 0.3 pb for a 100 GeV Higgs at the Tevatron, and almost 2 pb for a 400 GeV Higgs within a gap of 6 units at the LHC with √ s = 14 TeV.