Suggestions for benchmark scenarios for MSSM Higgs boson searches at hadron colliders

Abstract.

The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. Due to the different initial states, the Higgs production and decay channels relevant for Higgs boson searches are different at hadron colliders compared to LEP2. We suggest new benchmark scenarios for the MSSM Higgs boson search at hadron colliders that exemplify the phenomenology of different parts of the MSSM parameter space. Besides the $\m_h^{\rm max}$ scenario and the no-mixing scenario used in the LEP2 Higgs boson searches, we propose two new scenarios. In one scenario the main production channel at the LHC, $gg \to h$, is suppressed over a wide part of the M_A-$\tan \beta$-plane. In the other scenario, important Higgs decay channels at the Tevatron and at the LHC, $h \to b \bar b$ and $h \to \tau^+ \tau^-$, can be suppressed. All scenarios fulfill the LEP2 constraints for nearly the whole M_A-$\tan \beta$-plane.