Measuring the Higgs bosonʹs parity using τ→ρν

We present a very promising method for a measurement of the Higgs boson parity using the H/A→τ+τ−→ρ+ν̄τρ−ντ→π+π0ν̄τπ−π0ντ decay chain. The method is both model independent and independent of the Higgs production mechanism. Angular distributions of the τ decay products which are sensitive to the Higgs boson parity are defined and are found to be measurable using typical properties of a future detector for an e+e− linear collider. The prospects for the measurement of the parity of a Higgs boson with a mass of 120 GeV are quantified for the case of e+e− collisions of 500 GeV center of mass energy with an integrated luminosity of 500 fb−1. The Standard Model Higgsstrahlung production process is used as an example.