On the discovery potential of the lightest MSSM Higgs boson at the LHC

Production of the lightest minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) Higgs boson h is studied at the LHC. Isorate contours for the h --> gammagamma and h --> tau(+)tau(-) decay channels are shown in the (M-A, tan beta) parameter space. Effects of the SUSY parameters, in particular the stop mixing and stop quark mass, are investigated. Search strategies at the LHC are discussed and the discovery potential is calculated for the CMS experiment. The MSSM parameter space for M-A greater than or similar to 150-200 GeV/c(2) is expected to be covered with at least one decay channel with an integrated luminosity of 60 fb(-1). A light stop quark with large stop mixing can affect seriously the discovery potential in the h --> gammagamma and h --> ZZ* decay channels.