Backgrounds To Higgs Boson Searches from Asymmetric Internal Conversion

Understand

A class of potential backgrounds for Higgs boson searches in the W W to di-lepton channel at both the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider is presented.

• Backgrounds from W photon production with external conversion of the on-shell photon in detector material to an asymmetric electron-positron pair, with loss of the trailing electron or positron has been treated adequately in Higgs searches.
• Here we consider analogous backgrounds from the production of a W with an off-shell photon and with the internal conversion of the off-shell photon in vacuum to an asymmetric lepton-anti-lepton pair.
• While the former process yields almost entirely electrons or positrons, the latter can give electron, positron, muon, and anti-muon backgrounds in roughly equal amounts.