Probing Higgs Bosons/Electroweak Symmetry Breaking in Purely Leptonic Channels at Hadron Colliders

Abstract

I examine the ability of the LHC, SSC and Eloisatron hadron colliders to search for Higgs bosons in background-free purely leptonic modes. Such leptonic final state modes are surveyed for both the Standard Model Higgs scenario and a variety of non-minimal Higgs sectors (the features of which are reviewed along the way). In particular, I examine the ability of the SSC to probe exotic Higgs scenarios using purely leptonic channels, and discuss the extent to which a very high energy, high luminosity hadron collider such as the Eloisatron might be justified as a second generation SSC by virtue of its ability to employ leptonic channels to extend the SSC discovery reach or allow more detailed studies of already discovered Higgs bosons.

Work supported, in part, by the Department of Energy.