Search

At lowest order in perturbation theory, the scattering matrix element for Higgs boson production in association with dijets displays a strong correlation in the azimuthal angle between the dijets, induced by the CP-properties of the Higgs Boson coupling. However, the phase space cuts necessary for a clean extraction of the CP-properties simultaneously induce large corrections from emissions of hard radiation and thus formation of extra jets. The current study concerns the generalization of CP-studies using the azimuthal angle between dijets beyond tree-level and to events with more than just two jets. By analyzing the High Energy Limit of hard scattering matrix elements we arrive at a set of cuts optimized to enhance the correlation, while maintaining a large cross section, and an observable, which is very stable against higher order corrections. We contrast the description of Higgs boson production in association with jets at different levels: for tree-level hjj and hjjj matrix elements, for hjj matrix elements plus parton shower, and in a recent all-order framework, which converges to the full, all-order perturbative result in the limit of large invariant mass between all produced particles., Comment: 23 pages

Weak boson scattering processes provide particularly promising means for gaining insight into the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking at hadron colliders. Being very sensitive to interactions in the weak gauge boson sector, they will help to distinguish the Standard Model from various new physics scenarios such as extra-dimensional Higgsless models. To unambiguously identify signatures of new physics, precise predictions for experimentally accessible observables within realistic selection cuts are crucial, including next-to-leading order QCD corrections. Here, we review how flexible Monte-Carlo methods can be employed for precision analyses of weak boson scattering reactions within the Standard Model and beyond., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; talk given at RADCOR 2009 - 9th International Symposium on Radiative Corrections (Applications of Quantum Field Theory to Phenomenology), October 25 - 30 2009, Ascona, Switzerland

In this talk we discuss recent progress concerning precise predictions for hadron colliders. We show results of two applications of tensor reduction using GOLEM methods: the next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections to $pp \to ZZ+$jet as an important background for Higgs particle and new physics searches at hadron colliders, and the NLO corrections to graviton plus jet hadro-production, which is an important channel for graviton searches at the Tevatron and the LHC.

The Large Hadron Collider presents an unprecedented opportunity to probe the realm of new physics in the TeV region and shed light on some of the core unresolved issues of particle physics. These include the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of mass, the possible constituent of cold dark matter, new sources of CP violation needed to explain the baryon excess in the universe, the possible existence of extra gauge groups and extra matter, and importantly the path Nature chooses to resolve the hierarchy problem - is it supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Many models of new physics beyond the standard model contain a hidden sector which can be probed at the LHC. Additionally, the LHC will be a top factory and accurate measurements of the properties of the top and its rare decays will provide a window to new physics. Further, the LHC could shed light on the origin of neutralino masses if the new physics associated with their generation lies in the TeV region. Finally, the LHC is also a laboratory to test the hypothesis of TeV scale strings and D-brane models. An overview of these possibilities is presented in the spirit that it will serve as a companion to the Technical Design Reports (TDRs) by the particle detector groups ATLAS and CMS to facilitate the test of the new theoretical ideas at the LHC. Which of these ideas stands the test of the LHC data will govern the course of particle physics in the subsequent decades., Comment: Summary document for international workshop "Beyond the Standard Model at the LHC" (Pre-SUSY09), Northeastern University, Boston, June 2-4, 2009

Models with large extra dimensions predict the existence of Kaluza-Klein graviton resonances. We compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to graviton plus jet hadro-production, which is an important channel for graviton searches at the Tevatron and the LHC. The QCD corrections are sizable and lead to a significant reduction of the scale dependence. We present numerical results for cross sections and distributions, and discuss the uncertainty from parton distribution functions and the ultraviolet sensitivity of the theoretical prediction., Comment: 19 pages, 9 eps figures, v2: additional references and comments, new Fig. 9. Matches published version in Physical Review D

The computation of the NLO QCD corrections to the cross sections for W+W- gamma and ZZgamma production in hadronic collisions is presented. We consider the case of a real photon in the final state, but include full leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons. Numerical results for the LHC and the Tevatron are obtained through a fully flexible parton level Monte Carlo based on the structure of the VBFNLO program, allowing an easy implementation of arbitrary cuts and distributions. We show the dependence on scale variations of the integrated cross sections and provide evidence that NLO QCD corrections strongly modify the LO predictions for observables at the LHC both in magnitude and in shape.

We calculate the $W^\pm\gamma j + X$-production cross sections at next-to-leading order QCD for Tevatron and LHC collisions. We include leptonic decays of the $W$ to light leptons, with all off-shell effects taken into account. The corrections are sizable and have significant impact on the differential distributions., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, published version

We present a next-to-leading order QCD calculation for e+ nu_e mu+ nu_mu jj and e- nubar_e mu- nubar_mu jj production via weak boson fusion at a hadron collider in the form of a fully-flexible parton-level Monte Carlo program, which allows for the calculation of experimentally accessible observables within realistic selection cuts. The QCD corrections to the integrated cross sections are found to be modest, while the shapes of some kinematical distributions change appreciably compared to leading order. The residual scale uncertainties of the next-to-leading order results are at the few-percent level., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures; Fixed a typo in the acceptance cuts. Results and figures not changed

We demonstrate Purcell-like enhancement of Rayleigh scattering into a single optical mode of a Fabry-Perot resonator for several thermal atomic and molecular gases. The light is detuned by more than an octave, in this case by hundreds of nanometers, from any optical transition, making particle excitation and spontaneous emission negligible. The enhancement of light scattering into the resonator is explained quantitatively as an interference effect of light waves emitted by a classical driven dipole oscillator. Applications of our method include the sensitive, non-destructive in-situ detection of ultracold molecules., Comment: v2: 13 pages, 7 figures, small changes to the text, extended description of the theoretical model

We present an opto-electrical cooling scheme for polar molecules based on a Sisyphus-type cooling cycle in suitably tailored electric trapping fields. Dissipation is provided by spontaneous vibrational decay in a closed level scheme found in symmetric-top rotors comprising six low-field-seeking rovibrational states. A generic trap design is presented. Suitable molecules are identified with vibrational decay rates on the order of 100Hz. A simulation of the cooling process shows that the molecular temperature can be reduced from 1K to 1mK in approximately 10s. The molecules remain electrically trapped during this time, indicating that the ultracold regime can be reached in an experimentally feasible scheme.

We explore the potential of the CERN-LHC to access strongly interacting gauge boson systems via weak-boson scattering processes with W+W-jj, ZZjj, W+Zjj and W-Zjj final states, focusing on the leptonic decay modes of the gauge bosons. Cross sections and kinematic distributions for two representative scenarios of strong interactions in the weak sector and all relevant background processes are computed with fully-flexible parton-level Monte-Carlo programs that allow for the implementation of dedicated selection cuts. We find that models with new resonances give rise to very distinctive distributions of the decay leptons. The perturbative treatment of the signal processes is under excellent control., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; talk given at "Rencontres de Moriond - QCD and High Energy Interactions 2009"

Analytical solutions to the wave equation in spheroidal coordinates in the short wavelength limit are considered. The asymptotic solutions for the radial function are significantly simplified, allowing scalar spheroidal wave functions to be defined in a form which is directly reminiscent of the Laguerre-Gaussian solutions to the paraxial wave equation in optics. Expressions for the Cartesian derivatives of the scalar spheroidal wave functions are derived, leading to a new set of vector solutions to Maxwell's equations. The results are an ideal starting point for calculations of corrections to the paraxial approximation.

High fluxes of cold polar molecules are efficiently produced by electric guiding and velocity filtering. Here, we investigate different aspects of the beam formation. Variations of the source parameters such as density and temperature result in characteristic changes in the guided beam. These are observed in the velocity distribution of the guided molecules as well as in the dependence of the signal of guided molecules on the trapping electric field. A model taking into account velocity-dependent collisional losses of cold molecules in the region close to the nozzle accurately reproduces this behavior. This clarifies an open question on the parameter dependence of the detected signal and gives a more detailed understanding of the velocity filtering and guiding process.

We discuss the signatures of a representative Higgsless model with ideal fermion delocalization in vector-boson fusion processes, focusing on the gold- and silver-plated decay modes of the gauge bosons at the CERN-Large Hadron Collider. For this purpose, we have developed a fully-flexible parton-level Monte-Carlo program, which allows for the calculation of cross sections and kinematic distributions within experimentally feasible selection cuts at NLO-QCD accuracy. We find that Kaluza-Klein resonances give rise to very distinctive distributions of the decay leptons. Similar to the Standard Model case, within the Higgsless scenario the perturbative treatment of the vector-boson scattering processes is under excellent control., Comment: 22 pages, 20 figures

VBFNLO is a fully flexible parton level Monte Carlo program for the simulation of vector boson fusion, double and triple vector boson production in hadronic collisions at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant. VBFNLO includes Higgs and vector boson decays with full spin correlations and all off-shell effects. In addition, VBFNLO implements CP-even and CP-odd Higgs boson via gluon fusion, associated with two jets, at the leading-order one-loop level with the full top- and bottom-quark mass dependence in a generic two-Higgs-doublet model. A variety of effects arising from beyond the Standard Model physics are implemented for selected processes. This includes anomalous couplings of Higgs and vector bosons and a Warped Higgsless extra dimension model. The program offers the possibility to generate Les Houches Accord event files for all processes available at leading order., Comment: 23 pages, 10 tables

We explore the potential of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to access a strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector via weak boson scattering with WWjj, ZZjj and WZjj final states. As examples of models with scalar or vector resonances we concentrate on a scenario with a heavy Higgs boson and on a Warped Higgsless Kaluza-Klein model of narrow spin-one resonances. The signal and the most prominent background processes are evaluated using exact tree-level matrix elements including full off-shell and finite width effects for final states with two tagging jets and four leptons. Using double forward jet-tagging techniques, we derive dedicated cuts on the observable jets and charged leptons to suppress Standard Model backgrounds. We demonstrate that the LHC has substantial sensitivity to strong interactions in the electroweak symmetry breaking sector., Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures. References added, minor text revisions, version published by PRD

Electrostatic velocity filtering and guiding is an established technique to produce high fluxes of cold polar molecules. In this paper we clarify different aspects of this technique by comparing experiments to detailed calculations. In the experiment, we produce cold guided beams of the three water isotopologs H2O, D2O and HDO. Their different rotational constants and orientations of electric dipole moments lead to remarkably different Stark shift properties, despite the molecules being very similar in a chemical sense. Therefore, the signals of the guided water isotopologs differ on an absolute scale and also exhibit characteristic electrode voltage dependencies. We find excellent agreement between the relative guided fractions and voltage dependencies of the investigated isotopologs and predictions made by our theoretical model of electrostatic velocity filtering., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures; small changes to the text, updated references

We compute the O(alpha_s) QCD corrections to charged triple vector boson production at a hadron collider, i.e. the processes pp -> ZZW + X and pp -> WWW + X. Intermediate Higgs boson exchange effects, spin correlations from leptonic vector boson decays, and off-shell contributions are all taken into account. Results are implemented in a fully flexible Monte Carlo program that allows for an easy customization of kinematical cuts and variation of the factorization and renormalization scales. We analyze the dependence of the differential cross sections under scale variations and present distributions where the QCD corrections strongly modify the leading-order results., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables

Room-temperature absorption spectroscopy of formaldehyde has been performed in the 30140-30790cm^-1 range. Using tunable ultraviolet continuous-wave laser light, individual rotational lines are well resolved in the Doppler-broadened spectrum. Making use of genetic algorithms, the main features of the spectrum are reproduced. Spectral data is made available as Supporting Information.

Report of the Working Group on Higgs Bosons for the Workshop, ``Physics at TeV Colliders'', Les Houches, France, 11-29 June, 2007., Comment: 102 pages, 68 figures

We study Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton production in the large extra dimensions model via 2 jets plus missing transverse momentum signatures at the LHC. We make predictions for both the signal and the dominant Zjj and Wjj backgrounds, where we introduce missing P_T-dependent jet selection cuts that ensure the smallness of the 2-jet rate over the 1-jet rate. With the same jet selection cuts, the distributions of the two jets and their correlation with the missing transverse momentum provide additional evidence for the production of an invisible massive object., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; Version to be printed in JHEP

Multi-lepton signatures appear in many new physics searches at the Large Hadron Collider. We here consider WWZ production with subsequent leptonic decay of the three vector bosons as a SM source of multi-lepton events. We have calculated the next-to-leading order QCD corrections for the full $p p\to 6$ lepton production cross sections in hadronic collisions. Results have been implemented in the form of a flexible parton-level Monte-Carlo program which allows to calculate the QCD corrections for arbitrary distributions and acceptance cuts., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, version published in physics letters B

We present the calculation of the dominant next to leading order QCD corrections to Higgs boson production in association with three jets via vector boson fusion in the form of a NLO parton-level Monte Carlo program. QCD corrections to integrated cross sections are modest, while the shapes of some kinematical distributions change appreciably at NLO. Scale uncertainties are shown to be reduced at NLO for the total cross section and for distributions. We consider a central jet veto at the LHC and analyze the veto probability for typical vector boson fusion cuts. Scale uncertainties of the veto probability are sufficiently small at NLO for precise Higgs coupling measurements at the LHC., Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables, published version

For MSSM phenomenology, soft SUSY breaking dimension-three operators are important, in particular the couplings between Higgs bosons and squarks. In scattering processes, perturbative unitarity is violated at modest center-of-mass energy if these couplings are much larger than the masses of the scalar particles involved. Assuming perturbative unitarity, constraints on the trilinear couplings can be determined using a computer program that we have developed., Comment: Submitted for the SUSY07 proceedings, 4 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures

We present measurements of the internal state distribution of electrostatically guided formaldehyde. Upon excitation with continuous tunable ultraviolet laser light the molecules dissociate, leading to a decrease in the molecular flux. The population of individual guided states is measured by addressing transitions originating from them. The measured populations of selected states show good agreement with theoretical calculations for different temperatures of the molecule source. The purity of the guided beam as deduced from the entropy of the guided sample using a source temperature of 150K corresponds to that of a thermal ensemble with a temperature of about 30 K.

NLO QCD corrections to Vector Boson Pair Production via Vector Boson Fusion have recently been calculated and implemented in a parton-level Monte-Carlo program with full experimental cuts. We briefly sketch the elements of the calculation and show numerical results for the Large Hadron Collider., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, presented by G.Bozzi at IFAE 2007 (Napoli, April 2007) and HEP 2007 (Manchester, July 2007)

Experimental observation of Doppler-free signals for weak transitions can be greatly facilitated by an estimate for their expected amplitudes. We derive an analytical model which allows the Doppler-free amplitude to be estimated for small Doppler-free signals. Application of this model to formaldehyde allows the amplitude of experimentally observed Doppler-free signals to be reproduced to within the experimental error., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, v2: many small improvements + corrected line assignment

Higgs boson production in association with two tagging jets will be mediated by electroweak vector boson fusion and by gluon fusion. For the gluon fusion process, analysis of the azimuthal angle correlations of the two jets provides for a direct measurement of the CP-nature of the $Htt$ Yukawa coupling which is responsible for the effective $Hgg$ vertex., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; Talk given by DZ at Rencontres de Moriond, QCD session, La Thuile (Italy), March 2007

Higgs boson production in association with two tagging jets will be mediated by electroweak vector boson fusion and by gluon fusion processes at the CERN LHC. The characteristic distributions for the gluon fusion process are analyzed for the $H\to W^+W^-$ signal at $m_H=160$ GeV, with subsequent leptonic decay of the $W$-pair. The dominant backgrounds from top-quark pair production, $WWjj$ production and vector boson fusion processes can be suppressed to a level of $S/B\approx 1/4$, yielding a highly significant gluon fusion signal with 30 fb$^{-1}$. Analysis of the azimuthal angle correlations of the two jets provides for a direct measurement of the CP-nature of the $Htt$ Yukawa coupling which is responsible for the effective $Hgg$ vertex., Comment: 19 pages, 21 figures

We present the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to electroweak p p -> e+ nu_e mu+ mu- jj and p p -> e- nubar_e mu+ mu- jj production at the CERN LHC in the form of a fully flexible parton-level Monte Carlo program. The QCD corrections to the total cross sections are modest, changing the leading-order results by less than 10%. At the Born level, the shape of kinematic distributions can depend significantly on the choice of factorization scale. This theoretical uncertainty is strongly reduced by the inclusion of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; new figure and comments added; version published by PRD

Slepton pairs can be produced in vector-boson fusion processes at hadron colliders. The next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the electroweak production cross section for p p -> slepton+ slepton- +2jets at order alpha_s alpha^4 have been calculated and implemented in a NLO parton-level Monte Carlo program. Numerical results are presented for the CERN Large Hadron Collider., Comment: LaTex 10 pages, 5 figures, uses axodraw

Deviations from SM expectations in the Higgs sector can be parameterized by an effective Lagrangian. The corresponding anomalous couplings have been implemented in a Monte Carlo program for Higgs production in vector boson fusion, at NLO QCD accuracy. It allows to study anomalous coupling effects for production and decay of the Higgs boson. We analyze deviations allowed by LEP data and study a new azimuthal angle variable which directly measures the interference between CP-even, CP-odd and SM couplings., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures

A standard file format is proposed to store process and event information, primarily output from parton-level event generators for further use by general-purpose ones. The information content is identical with what was already defined by the Les Houches Accord five years ago, but then in terms of Fortran commonblocks. This information is embedded in a minimal XML-style structure, for clarity and to simplify parsing., Comment: 8 pages, written within the framework of the MC4LHC-06 workshop, CERN, 17-26 July 2006

NLO-QCD corrections to vector boson pair production via weak boson fusion have recently been calculated and implemented into flexible parton-level Monte-Carlo programs. These allow for the computation of cross sections and kinematical distributions within realistic experimental cuts. We summarize the basic elements of the calculation and review phenomenological results for the LHC., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, presented at the conference "Physics at LHC 2006", Cracow, Poland, 3-8 July 2006

Tree-level studies have shown in the past that kinematical correlations between the two jets in Higgs+2-jet events are direct probes of the Higgs couplings, e.g. of their CP nature. In this paper we explore the impact of higher-order corrections on the azimuthal angle correlation of the two leading jets and on the rapidity distribution of extra jets. Our study includes matrix-element and shower MC effects, for the two leading sources of Higgs plus two jet events at the CERN LHC, namely vector-boson and gluon fusion. We show that the discriminating features present in the previous leading-order matrix element studies survive., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear on JHEP. Figs. 5-8 replaced with colour versions

There are many possibilities for new physics beyond the Standard Model that feature non-standard Higgs sectors. These may introduce new sources of CP violation, and there may be mixing between multiple Higgs bosons or other new scalar bosons. Alternatively, the Higgs may be a composite state, or there may even be no Higgs at all. These non-standard Higgs scenarios have important implications for collider physics as well as for cosmology, and understanding their phenomenology is essential for a full comprehension of electroweak symmetry breaking. This report discusses the most relevant theories which go beyond the Standard Model and its minimal, CP-conserving supersymmetric extension: two-Higgs-doublet models and minimal supersymmetric models with CP violation, supersymmetric models with an extra singlet, models with extra gauge groups or Higgs triplets, Little Higgs models, models in extra dimensions, and models with technicolour or other new strong dynamics. For each of these scenarios, this report presents an introduction to the phenomenology, followed by contributions on more detailed theoretical aspects and studies of possible experimental signatures at the LHC and other colliders., Comment: Report of the CPNSH workshop, May 2004 - Dec 2005, 542 pages. The complete report as well as its individual chapters are also available from http://kraml.home.cern.ch/kraml/cpnsh/report.html

Azimuthal angle correlations of the jets in Hjj events at the LHC provide a probe of the CP nature of Higgs couplings to gauge bosons. In weak boson fusion the HWW and HZZ couplings are tested. Gluon fusion processes probe the tensor structure of the effective Hgg vertex and thus the CP nature of the dominant quark couplings., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of the Workshop on CP Violation and Non-standard Higgs Physics, CERN

Vector-boson fusion processes are an important tool for the study of electroweak symmetry breaking at hadron colliders, since they allow to distinguish a light Higgs boson scenario from strong weak boson scattering. We here consider the channels WW->ZZ and ZZ->ZZ as part of electroweak Z boson pair production in association with two tagging jets. We present the calculation of the NLO QCD corrections to the cross sections for p p -> e+ e- mu+ mu- + 2 jets and p p -> e+ e- nu_mu nubar_mu + 2 jets via vector-boson fusion at order alpha_s alpha^6, which is performed in the form a NLO parton-level Monte Carlo program. The corrections to the integrated cross sections are found to be modest, while the shapes of some kinematical distributions change appreciably at NLO. Residual scale uncertainties typically are at the few percent level., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

Vector-boson fusion processes constitute an important class of reactions at hadron colliders, both for signals and backgrounds of new physics in the electroweak interactions. We consider what is commonly referred to as W+W- production via vector-boson fusion (with subsequent leptonic decay of the Ws), or, more precisely, e+ nu_e mu- nubar_mu + 2 jets production in proton-proton scattering, with all resonant and non-resonant Feynman diagrams and spin correlations of the final-state leptons included, in the phase-space regions which are dominated by t-channel electroweak-boson exchange. We compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to this process, at order alpha^6 alpha_s. The QCD corrections are modest, changing total cross sections by less than 10%. Remaining scale uncertainties are below 2%. A fully-flexible next-to-leading order partonic Monte Carlo program allows to demonstrate these features for cross sections within typical vector-boson-fusion acceptance cuts. Modest corrections are also found for distributions., Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures

We investigate the determination of Higgs boson couplings to gauge bosons and fermions at the LHC from data on Higgs boson production and decay. We demonstrate that very mild theoretical assumptions, which are valid in general multi-Higgs doublet models, are sufficient to allow the extraction of absolute values of the couplings rather than just ratios of the couplings. For Higgs masses below 200 GeV we find accuracies of 10-40% for the Higgs couplings and the total Higgs boson width after several years of LHC running. The sensitivity of the Higgs coupling measurements to deviations from the Standard Model predictions is studied for an MSSM scenario., Comment: 9 pages, contribution to the proceedings of the XXXIXth Rencontres de Moriond, La Thuile, March 2004

NLO QCD corrections to H, W and Z production via vector boson fusion have recently been calculated in the form of flexible parton level Monte Carlo programs. This allows for the calculation of distributions and cross sections with cuts at NLO accuracy. Some features of the calculation, as well as results for the LHC, are reviewed., Comment: 1 style file, 1 latex file, 5 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of "Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory, 2004", Zinnowitz, Usedom Island, Germany, April, 2004

We show how LHC Higgs boson production and decay data can be used to extract gauge and fermion couplings of Higgs bosons. We show that very mild theoretical assumptions, which are valid in general multi-Higgs doublet models, are sufficient to allow the extraction of absolute values for the couplings rather than just ratios of the couplings. For Higgs masses below 200 GeV we find accuracies of 10-40% for the Higgs boson couplings and total width after several years of LHC running. Slightly stronger assumptions on the Higgs gauge couplings even lead to a determination of couplings to fermions at the level of 10-20%. We also study the sensitivity to deviations from SM predictions in several supersymmetric benchmark scenarios as a subset of the analysis., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures

Theoretical progress in Higgs boson production and background processes is discussed with particular emphasis on QCD corrections at and beyond next-to-leading order as well as next-to-leading order electroweak corrections. The residual theoretical uncertainties of the investigated processes are estimated in detail. Moreover, recent investigations of the MSSM Higgs sector and other extensions of the SM Higgs sector are presented. The potential of the LHC and a high-energy linear e+e- collider for the measurement of Higgs couplings is analyzed., Comment: 169 pages, Proceedings 3rd Les Houches Workshop: Physics at TeV Colliders, Les Houches, France, 26 May - 6 Jun 2003

Higgs boson production via weak boson fusion is sensitive to the tensor structure of the HVV (V=W,Z) couplings, which distinguishes loop induced vertices from SM expectations. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider this information shows up most clearly in the azimuthal angle correlations of the two forward and backward quark jets which are typical for weak boson fusion. We calculate the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to this process, in the presence of anomalous HVV couplings. Gluon emission does not significantly change the azimuthal jet correlations., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

Recently the collider physics community has seen significant advances in the formalisms and implementations of event generators. This review is a primer of the methods commonly used for the simulation of high energy physics events at particle colliders. We provide brief descriptions, references, and links to the specific computer codes which implement the methods. The aim is to provide an overview of the available tools, allowing the reader to ascertain which tool is best for a particular application, but also making clear the limitations of each tool., Comment: 49 pages Latex. Compiled by the Working Group on Quantum ChromoDynamics and the Standard Model for the Workshop ``Physics at TeV Colliders'', Les Houches, France, May 2003. To appear in the proceedings

The production of W or Z bosons in association with two jets is an important background to the Higgs boson search in vector-boson fusion at the LHC. The purely electroweak component of this background is dominated by vector-boson fusion, which exhibits kinematic distributions very similar to the Higgs boson signal. We consider the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the electroweak production of l nu_l jj and l^+ l^- jj events at the LHC, within typical vector-boson fusion cuts. We show that the QCD corrections are modest, increasing the total cross sections by about 10%. Remaining scale uncertainties are below 2%. A fully-flexible next-to-leading order partonic Monte Carlo program allows to demonstrate these features for cross sections within typical vector-boson-fusion acceptance cuts. Modest corrections are also found for distributions., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures. PRD final version. One reference corrected, introduction expanded