Mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to Higgs boson production in gluon fusion

Abstract

We compute the 3-loop O(\alpha \alpha_s) correction to the Higgs boson production cross section arising from light quarks using an effective theory approach. Our calculation probes the factorization of QCD and electroweak perturbative corrections to this process. We combine our results with the best current estimates for contributions from top and bottom quarks to derive an updated theoretical prediction for the Higgs boson production cross section in gluon fusion. With the use of the MSTW 2008 parton distribution functions that include the newest experimental data, our study results in cross sections approximately 4-6% lower for intermediate Higgs boson masses than those used in recent Tevatron analyses that imposed a 95% confidence level exclusion limit of a Standard Model Higgs boson with M_H=170 GeV.