Searching for An Intermediate-Mass Higgs and New Physics in Two-Photon Coherent Processes at the LHC
Abstract
We reexamine the prospects for searching for a neutral Higgs boson in the intermediate-mass range and physics beyond the standard model, using the proton- and ion-beam facilities of the LHC to study coherent two-photon processes. Considering realistic design luminosities for the different ion beams, we find that beams of light-to-medium size ions like calcium will give the highest production rates. With a suitable trigger and assuming a b-quark identification efficiency of 30\% and a b b mass resolution of 10 GeV one could expect to see a Higgs signal in the b b channel with a 3-4 σ statistical significance in the first phase of operation of the LHC with beams of calcium. The discovery potential for light supersymmetric particles is as promissing. The study of such very ``quiet'' final state topologies in heavy ion collisions could even lead to the discovery of a new phase of QED.
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