NNLO corrections to the total cross section for Higgs boson production in hadron-hadron collisions

We present the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) corrections to the total cross section for (pseudo-) scalar Higgs boson production using an alternative method than those used in previous calculations. All QCD partonic subprocesses have been included and the computation is carried out in the effective Lagrangian approach which emerges from the standard model by taking the limit m(t)-->infinity where m(t) denotes the mass of the top quark. Our results agree with those published earlier in the literature. We estimate the theoretical uncertainties by comparing the K-factors and the variation with respect to the mass factorization/renormalization scales with the results obtained by lower order calculations. We also investigate the dependence of the cross section on several parton density sets provided by different groups. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.