Higgs Production in Association with a Vector Boson Pair at Future e+ e- Colliders

Abstract

We study Higgs boson production in association with a pair of electroweak vector bosons ($WW,ZZ,Zγ$) at future $\epem$ colliders in the framework of the Standard Model. Total cross sections and distributions for the intermediate-mass Higgs are presented, with special emphasis on the Next Linear Collider (NLC) case operating at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} \simeq 500$ GeV, where the cross sections turn out to be more favourable than in larger-$\sqrt{s}$ collisions. We find that with an integrated luminosity of 20 fb$^{-1}$ there is a sizeable event rate for the $HWW$ and $HZγ$ (with a high $p_T^γ$) channels, while a larger integrated luminosity is needed to study the $HZZ$ production. We take into account various backgrounds, notably top-pair and triple vector-boson production, and show ways to significantly reduce their effects.