Observability of the lightest CMSSM Higgs boson at hadron colliders

We discuss the observability of the lightest neutral Higgs boson in the constrained MSSM (CMSSM), with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters, at hadron colliders such as the Tevatron and the LHC. We take account of the constraints on parameter space provided by LEP, the measured rate of g(mu) --> s gamma decay, the cosmological relic density Ohm chih(2), and the recent measurement of g(mu) - 2. We normalize products of the expected CMSSM Higgs production cross sections and decay branching ratios sigma x B relative to those expected for a Standard Model Higgs boson of the same mass. In the It yy channel, we find that [sigma (gg --> h) x B(h --> gamma gamma)](CMSSM) greater than or similar to0.85 x [sigma (gg --> h) x B(h --> gamma gamma)](SM). In the W+/-/(t) over bart + h, h --> (b) over barb channels, we find that [sigma (W+/-/(t) over bart + h) x B(h --> (b) over barb)](CMSSM) similar to 1.05 x [sigma (W +/-/(t) over bart + h) x B(h --> (b) over barb)](SM). We conclude that the lightest CMSSM Higgs boson should be almost as easy to see as the Standard Model Higgs boson: in particular, it should be discoverable with about 15 fb(-1) of luminosity at the Tevatron or 10 fb(-1) of luminosity at the LHC. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.