H-->WW as the discovery mode for a light Higgs boson

Abstract

The production cross section for a m_H=115 GeV, SM Higgs boson in weak boson fusion at the LHC is sizable. However, the branching fraction for H-->WW is expected to be relatively small. The signal, with its two forward jets, is sufficiently different from the main backgrounds that a signal to background ratio of better than 1:1 can nevertheless be obtained, with large enough rate to allow for a 5 sigma signal with 35 fb^{-1} of data. The H-->WW signal in weak boson fusion may thus prove to be the discovery mode for the Higgs boson at the LHC.