CLEAR SIGNAL OF INTERMEDIATE MASS HIGGS BOSON PRODUCTION AT LHC AND SSC

We compute the event rates for two potentially important background processes pp --> tt-gamma-gamma-XBAR and pp --> bb-gamma-gamma-XBAR to the recently proposed signature for Higgs production of one isolated lepton and two isolated photons in the intermediate-mass range. We find that the background can be suppressed assuming good (almost-equal-to (2-3)%) mass resolution in the invariant mass of the two photons, and assuming that the isolation criteria for the lepton and photons can be efficiently implemented experimentally. We reanalyse the signal to background ratios using realistic experimental cuts and find that by measuring the inclusive production of one isolated lepton and two isolated photons at the LHC or the SSC we can obtain a clear experimental signal for the production of the Higgs boson in the mass region 70 < M(H) < 140 GeV.