Maximum Significance at the LHC and Higgs Decays to Muons

We present a new way to define and compute the maximum significance achievable for signal and background processes at the LHC, using all available phase space information. As an example, we show that a light Higgs boson produced in weak--boson fusion with a subsequent decay into muons can be extracted from the backgrounds. The method, aimed at phenomenological studies, can be incorporated in parton--level event generators and accommodate parametric descriptions of detector effects for selected observables.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, changes to wording and new references, published versio

MHV Rules for Higgs Plus Multi-Gluon Amplitudes

We use tree-level perturbation theory to show how non-supersymmetric one-loop scattering amplitudes for a Higgs boson plus an arbitrary number of partons can be constructed, in the limit of a heavy top quark, from a generalization of the scalar graph approach of Cachazo, Svrcek and Witten. The Higgs boson couples to gluons through a top quark loop which generates, for large top mass, a dimension-5 operator H tr G^2. This effective interaction leads to amplitudes which cannot be described by the standard MHV rules; for example, amplitudes where all of the gluons have positive helicity. We split the effective interaction into the sum of two terms, one holomorphic (selfdual) and one anti-holomorphic (anti-selfdual). The holomorphic interactions give a new set of MHV vertices -- identical in form to those of pure gauge theory, except for momentum conservation -- that can be combined with pure gauge theory MHV vertices to produce a tower of amplitudes with more than two negative helicities. Similarly, the anti-holomorphic interactions give anti-MHV vertices that can be combined with pure gauge theory anti-MHV vertices to produce a tower of amplitudes with more than two positive helicities. A Higgs boson amplitude is the sum of one MHV-tower amplitude and one anti-MHV-tower amplitude. We present all MHV-tower amplitudes with up to four negative-helicity gluons and any number of positive-helicity gluons (NNMHV). These rules reproduce all of the available analytic formulae for Higgs + n-gluon scattering (n<=5) at tree level, in some cases yielding considerably shorter expressions.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures; v2, references correcte

Dominant next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs plus three jet production in vector-boson fusion

We present the calculation of the dominant next to leading order QCD corrections to Higgs boson production in association with three jets via vector boson fusion in the form of a NLO parton-level Monte Carlo program. QCD corrections to integrated cross sections are modest, while the shapes of some kinematical distributions change appreciably at NLO. Scale uncertainties are shown to be reduced at NLO for the total cross section and for distributions. We consider a central jet veto at the LHC and analyze the veto probability for typical vector boson fusion cuts. Scale uncertainties of the veto probability are sufficiently small at NLO for precise Higgs coupling measurements at the LHC.Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables, published versio

Inactivation of polyketide synthase and related genes results in the loss of complex lipids in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv

Aims: Phthiocerol dimycocerosate (PDIM) waxes and other lipids are necessary for successful Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, although the exact role of PDIM in host-pathogen interactions remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the contribution of tesA, drrB, pks6 and pks11 genes in complex lipid biosynthesis in M. tuberculosis. Methods and Results: Four mutants were selected from M. tuberculosis H37Rv transposon mutant library. The transposon insertion sites were confirmed to be within the M. tuberculosis open reading frames for tesA (a probable thioesterase), drrB (predicted ABC transporter), pks11 (putative chalcone synthase) and pks6 (polyketide synthase). The first three of these transposon mutants were unable to generate PDIM and the fourth lacked novel polar lipids. Conclusions: Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be cultivated in vitro without the involvement of certain lipid synthesis genes, which may be necessary for in vivo pathogenicity. Significance and Impact of the Study: The use of transposon mutants is a new functional genomic approach for the eventual definition of the mycobacterial ‘lipidome’

Scalar Particle Contribution to Higgs Production via Gluon Fusion at NLO

We consider the gluon fusion production cross section of a scalar Higgs boson in models where fermion and scalar massive colored particles are present. We report analytic expressions for the matrix elements of $gg\to Hg$, $q\bar{q}\to Hg$, and $qg\to Hq$ processes completing the calculation of the NLO QCD corrections in these extended scenarios. The formulas are written in a complete general case, allowing a flexible use for different theoretical models. Applications of our results to two different models are presented: i) a model in which the SM Higgs sector is augmented by a weak doublet scalar in the $SU(N_c)$ adjoint representation. ii) The MSSM, in the limit of neglecting the gluino contribution to the cross section.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes. Refs. adde

Higgs Boson Production in Association with Three Jets

The scattering amplitudes for Higgs + 5 partons are computed, with the Higgs boson produced via gluon fusion in the large top-quark mass limit. A parton-level analysis of Higgs + 3 jet production via gluon fusion and via weak-boson fusion is presented, and the effectiveness of a central-jet veto is analysed.Comment: 26 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses JHEP3.cl

SUSY Ward identities for multi-gluon helicity amplitudes with massive quarks

We use supersymmetric Ward identities to relate multi-gluon helicity amplitudes involving a pair of massive quarks to amplitudes with massive scalars. This allows to use the recent results for scalar amplitudes with an arbitrary number of gluons obtained by on-shell recursion relations to obtain scattering amplitudes involving top quarks.Comment: 22 pages, references adde

pp -> ttH, H->tau tau: toward a model independent determination of the Higgs boson couplings at the LHC

The possibility of detecting a Higgs boson through several production and decay channels is instrumental to the measurement of its couplings. In this paper we study the pp-> ttH(H-> tau tau) channel at the LHC, for the case of a scalar Higgs boson, and use the obtained results to improve on existing strategies toward a model independent determination of the Higgs boson couplings. The case of a scalar Higgs boson with mass below 140 GeV looks particularly promising.Comment: 19 pages, 5 Figures, LaTex, published version, typos corrected, comments added in Sec.

Soft-gluon effects in WW production at hadron colliders

We consider QCD radiative corrections to WW pair production in hadron collisions. We perform a calculation that consistently combines next-to-leading order predictions with soft-gluon resummation valid at small transverse momenta ptWW of the WW pair. We present results for the ptWW distribution at the LHC up to (almost) next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, and study the effect of resummation on the charged-lepton distributions. Soft-gluon effects are typically mild, but they can be strongly enhanced when hard cuts are applied. The relevant distributions are generally well described by the MC@NLO event generator.Comment: 15 pages, 12 postscript figures. Error corrected in NLO plot for WW transverse-mass distribution. Results unchange

Measuring the Higgs Sector

If we find a light Higgs boson at the LHC, there should be many observable channels which we can exploit to measure the relevant parameters in the Higgs sector. We use the SFitter framework to map these measurements on the parameter space of a general weak-scale effective theory with a light Higgs state of mass 120 GeV. Our analysis benefits from the parameter determination tools and the error treatment used in new--physics searches, to study individual parameters and their error bars as well as parameter correlations.Comment: 45 pages, Journal version with comments from refere