Higgs boson production under the resonance threshold at LEP II

Abstract

We consider the possibility of Higgs boson detection at LEP II under the resonance threshold ($\sqrt{s}<m_H+m_Z$) in the framework of complete tree level approach to the calculation of the $e^+ e^- \rightarrow ν\bar νb \bar b$ amplitude, simulating b-quark fragmentation to hadrons and taking into account typical detector properties. At the energy below the $2m_Z$ threshold $\sqrt{s}=$ 175 GeV Higgs boson production under the $m_H+m_Z$ threshold is practically background free.

19 pages, including 1 figure in LaTeX, 8 postscript figures