1995/07/04 by Elena Papageorgiu, Papageorgiu, Elena
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/9507221
7 pages of TEX + 5 Figures (available only as hardcopy); Talk pres. at the XXXth Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Hadronic Interactions, March 19-26, Les Arcs, 1995, to appear in the proc
arxiv created 1995/07/04 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
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.