HIGGS BOSON PRODUCTION IN $e^+ e^- \to \mu^+ \mu^- b \bar b$

Abstract

The production of the Standard Model Higgs boson in the four-fermion reaction $e^+ e^- \to \mu^+ \mu^- b \bar b$ is studied. The complete tree-level matrix element, including signal and backgrounds in the standard electroweak theory, is computed and initial state radiation is taken into account in the leading-log approximation. A Monte Carlo event generator has been built and numerical results for some distributions of experimental interest for the search of the Higgs particle at future electron-positron colliders are shown, compared with those existing in the literature and commented.