Investigation of Higgs production via Z-boson fusion at future e+e-linear colliders

In this talk we present an investigation of Higgs production via ZZ fusion, and indicate how this channel could be used to help discover and study Higgs bosons in future linear colliders. The ZZ fusion process is an interesting source of Higgs bosons at typical linear collider energies, in spite of having an order of magnitude smaller cross-section compare to WW fusion or HZ Bremsstrahlung processes, and in spite of the presence of some physical backgrounds, because the corresponding final states are very simple to reconstruct, and because of the existence of a characteristic azimuthal asymmetry in the angles of the scattered electrons, expressed in the c.m. system of the two Z-bosons. This asymmetry, which results from interference between the longitudinal and transverse polarization components of each Z-boson, provides simultaneously an additional variable to discriminate against backgrounds, and the possibility of an unambiguous test of the spin and parity of the produced Higgs bosons. (authors). 10 refs., 4 figs