Higgs boson production via Double Pomeron Exchange at the LHC

Abstract

We study Higgs boson production via Double Pomeron Exchange allowing for the presence of Pomeron remnants. We estimate the number of events produced at the LHC collider, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and its decay channel. The model which successfully describes the high mass dijet spectrum observed at Tevatron (run I) is used to predict rates of events with tagged protons for the acceptance range of the CMS/Totem experiments. Sizeable cross-sections and encouraging event selection signals are found, demonstrating especially for smaller Higgs boson masses the importance to study the diffractive channels. Tagging of the Pomeron remnants can be exploited to achieve a good resolution on the Higgs boson mass for inclusive diffractive events, by optimizing an intermediary analysis between higher cross-sections of the fully {\it inclusive} mode (all Pomeron remnants) and cleaner signals of the {\it exclusive} mode (without Pomeron remnants).