On the possibility to detect the Higgs decay H→bb^-bar in the associated Z+bb^-bar production at the LHC

We investigate the possibility to detect the scalar Higgs boson decay H→bb^-bar in the associated Z and bb^-bar production at the LHC using the k_T-factorization QCD approach. Our consideration is based on the off-shell (i.e. depending on the transverse momenta of initial quarks and gluons) production amplitudes of q^∗q^-bar∗→ZH→Zq^′q^-bar′, q^∗q^-bar∗→Zq^′q^-bar′, and g^∗g^∗→Zq^′q^-bar′ partonic subprocesses supplemented with the Catani–Ciafoloni–Fiorani–Marchesini (CCFM) dynamics of parton densities in a proton. We argue that the H→bb^-bar signal could be observed at large transverse momenta near the Higgs boson peak despite the overwhelming QCD background, and we point out the important role of angular correlations between the produced Z boson and b-quarks