Higgs-strahlung and $WW$ fusion in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collisions

Abstract

Higgs-strahlung $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to ZH$ and $WW$ fusion $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to {\bar{\nu }}_e{\nu }_{e}H$ are the most important mechanisms for the production of Higgs bosons in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collisions at LEP2 and future $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ linear colliders. We have calculated the cross sections and energy/angular distributions of the Higgs boson for these production mechanisms. When the $Z$ boson decays into (electron-)neutrinos, the two production amplitudes interfere. In the cross-over region between the two mechanisms the interference term is positive and of the same size as the individual cross sections, thus enhancing the production rate.

Comments: 9 pages LaTeX2e (using standard graphicx package), 8 figures