Improved Predictions for Higgs Q_T at the Tevatron and the LHC

Abstract

The search for the Higgs boson at the Tevatron and the LHC relies on detailed calculations of the kinematics of Higgs boson production and decay. In this paper, we improve the calculation of the distribution in transverse momentum, $Q_T$, of the Higgs boson in the gluon fusion production process, $gg\to H$, by matching the resummed distribution at small $Q_T$ with the ${\cal O}(\alpha_{s}^4)$ fixed-order perturbative calculation at high $Q_T$ in the ResBos Monte Carlo program. The distribution is higher at large $Q_T$ than with the old ${\cal O}(\alpha_{s}^3)$ fixed-order perturbative calculation, and the matching with the resummed calculation is much smoother. The total cross section is also increased, more in line with next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations. We also study the effect of the new calculation on the distribution of $\Delta\phi_{\ell\ell}$ in the overall process $gg\to H\to W^{+} W^{-}\to\ell^{+}\ell^{-}\nu\bar{\nu}$, and the effect of PDF uncertainties on the distributions at the Tevatron and the LHC.