IDENTIFYING THE HIGGS-BOSON IN ELECTRON-PHOTON COLLISIONS

We analyze the production and detection of the Higgs boson in the next generation of linear e+e-colliders operating in the egamma mode. In p articular, we study the production mechanism e+gamma --> egammagamma - -> e + H, where one photon is generated via the laser backscattering m echanism, while the other is radiated via the usual bremsstrahlung pro cess. We show that this is the most important mechanism for Higgs boso n production in a 500 GeV egamma collider for M(H) greater than or sim ilar to 140 GeV. We also study the signals and backgrounds for detecti on of the Higgs boson in the different decay channels bbBAR, W+W-, and ZZ, and suggest kinematical cuts to improve the signature of an inter mediate-mass Higgs boson.