Decay-lepton correlations as probes of anomalous ZZH and gammaZH interactions in e+e- --> ZH with polarized beams

Abstract

We examine the contributions of various couplings in general ZZH and gammaZH interactions arising from new physics to the Higgs production process e+e- --> HZ, followed by the decay of the Z into a charged-lepton pair. We take into account possible longitudinal or transverse beam polarization likely to be available at a linear collider. We show how expectation values of certain simple observables in suitable combinations with appropriate longitudinal beam polarizations can be used to disentangle various couplings from one another. Longitudinal polarization can also improve the sensitivity for measurement of several couplings. A striking result is that using transverse polarization, one of the gammaZH couplings, not otherwise accessible, can be determined independently of all other couplings.