On the possibility to detect the Higgs decay $H\to b\bar b$ in the associated $Z + b\bar b$ production at the LHC

Abstract

We investigate the possibility to detect the scalar Higgs boson decay $H\to b\bar b$ in the associated $Z$ and $b\bar b$ production at the LHC using the $k_T$-factorization QCD approach. Our consideration is based on the off-shell (i.e. depending on the transverse momenta of initial quarks and gluons) production amplitudes of $q^* \bar q^* \to Z H \to Z q^\prime \bar q^\prime$, $q^* \bar q^* \to Z q^\prime \bar q^\prime$ and $g^* g^* \to Z q^\prime \bar q^\prime$ partonic subprocesses supplemented with the Catani-Ciafoloni-Fiorani-Marchesini (CCFM) dynamics of parton densities in a proton. We argue that the $H \to b\bar b$ signal could be observed at large transverse momenta near Higgs boson peak despite the overwhelming QCD background, and point out an important role of angular correlations between the produced $Z$ boson and $b$-quarks.