Searching for the Higgs bosons of minimal supersymmetry with muon pairs and bottom quarks

The prospects for the discovery of neutral Higgs bosons (φ0=H0,h0,A0) produced with bottom quarks via Higgs decays into muon pairs (pp→bb̄φ0→bb̄μμ̄+X) at the CERN LHC are investigated in the minimal supersymmetric model. The complete physics background from the production of bb̄μμ̄, bb̄W+W− (including tt̄) and jjμμ̄,j=g,u,d,s,c in the Standard Model is calculated with realistic acceptance cuts. This discovery mode has a simple production mechanism from gg→bb̄φ0 with its cross section proportional to 1/cos2β and could provide an opportunity to measure tanβ and the bb̄φ0 couplings. In addition, we compare the associated discovery mode above with the inclusive discovery channel pp→φ0→μμ̄+X. Promising results are found for the CP-odd pseudoscalar (A0) and the heavier CP-even scalar (H0) Higgs bosons for tanβ≡v2/v1≳14 and mA,mH≲ 325 GeV.