Search for the SM and MSSM Higgs boson in the t (anti t)H, H → b (anti b) channel

A detailed study of the associated Standard Model Higgs boson production t anti(t) H with H → b anti(b) is presented for the SM and MSSM scenarios. For Higgs boson masses from 80 to 120 GeV and an integrated luminosity of 3 ·104 pb-1 a clear evidence for an excess of events with four b-tagged jets over the background from W + jets and t anti (t) production should be observable. However, a clean reconstruction of the H → b anti(b) mass peak will be difficult because of the combinatorial background from the signal itself. This problem can be to a large extent overcome if both top-quark decays are reconstructed in addition to the reconstruction of the H → b anti(b) mass peak. In the MSSM scenario, the low tan β region (up to tan β ∼ 6) for an integrated luminosity of 3 · 10-4 pb-1 and most of the (mA, tan β) parameter space for an integrated luminosity of 105 pb-1 would be accessible with this channel. Excellent b-tagging capability and good efficiency for jet reconstruction are however necessary to explore this channel to its full potential. (author)