Rapidity gap signals in Higgs production at the SSC

Abstract

We examine the structure of the underlying event in neutral Higgs production at the Superconducting-Supercollider (SSC). Gaps, regions of rapidity containing no soft particle production, can provide a clean signature for $W$ boson fusion to the heavy Higgs. We first examine the physical basis of gap production and estimate the survival probability of gaps in the minijet model. Then, using PYTHIA, and HERWIG we compare gap events to $W$ pair production from top decay and $q\bar{q}$ fusion. We find that, if experimental problems can be overcome, gaps should provide a small, but clean, signal for heavy Higgs production at the SSC.