Higgs production in bottom-quark fusion in a matched scheme

TL;DR

This paper calculates the Higgs production cross-section in bottom-quark fusion using the FONLL matching scheme, combining massless and massive treatments of the bottom quark for improved accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the FONLL method to Higgs production in bottom-quark fusion, providing explicit formulas and comparisons with existing schemes.

Findings

FONLL matching improves cross-section predictions.

Results align well with existing four- and five-flavor schemes.

Enhanced understanding of bottom-quark mass effects in Higgs production.

Abstract

We compute the total cross-section for Higgs boson production in bottom-quark fusion using the so-called FONLL method for the matching of a scheme in which the $b$-quark is treated as a massless parton to that in which it is treated as a massive final-state particle. We discuss the general framework for the application of the FONLL method to this process, and then we present explicit expressions for the case in which the next-to-next-to-leading-log five-flavor scheme result is combined with the leading-order $\cal O(\alpha_s^2)$ four-flavor scheme computation. We compare our results in this case to the four-and five-flavor scheme computations, and to the so-called Santander matching.