Suggestions for Benchmark Scenarios for MSSM Higgs Boson Searches at Hadron Colliders

Abstract

The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. Due to the different initial states, the Higgs production and decay channels relevant for Higgs boson searches were different at LEP2 to what they are at hadron colliders. We suggest new benchmark scenarios for the MSSM Higgs boson search at hadron colliders that exemplify the phenomenology of different parts of the MSSM parameter space. Besides the m_h^max scenario and the no-mixing scenario used in the LEP2 Higgs boson searches, we propose two new scenarios. In one the main production channel at the LHC, gg -> h, is suppressed. In the other, important Higgs decay channels at the Tevatron and at the LHC, h -> b \bar b and h -> tau^+ tau^-, are suppressed. All scenarios evade the LEP2 constraints for nearly the whole M_A-tan beta-plane.