Symmetry breaking and the question of the origin of mass are the reasons the Superconducting Super Collider and the Large Hadron Collider are being built. The Standard Model of particle physics provides a solution to this problem by proposing the existence of a neutral scalar particle, the Higgs boson. This particle, via its interactions, gives mass to all of the particles in the Standard Model. The question of whether the Higgs boson can be detected at these machines depends critically on its final state decays. These decays in turn depend crucially on the mass of the Higgs boson, an unknown parameter of the theory. A lower bound of the Higgs mass has been set by experiment and a upper bound via theoretical arguments. Throughout much of the mass range Higgs decays via weak gauge bosons yield a clear signal. However, near the lower limit, the so-called intermediate mass region, the situation is less clear. In this region Higgs decays into photon pairs have been suggested as a viable signal. The significance of such a signal depends on other competing processes or backgrounds. This dissertation attempts to answer the question, "Can the Intermediate mass Higgs boson be detected via its electromagnetic decays?" To answer this question various Standard Model processes are calculated to the leading-log and next-to-leading-log level in a Monte Carlo environment. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03, Section: B, page: 1456. / Major Professor: Joseph F. Owens, III. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76889 |
| Contributors | Bailey, Bobby R., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 102 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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