Application of K Factors in the H ! ZZ ⋆ ! 4l Analysis at the LHC

Higher order corrections to the Higgs and the non-resonant ZZ production at the LHC are evaluated within the context of the H ! 4l analysis for Higgs masses 120 < MH < 180GeV. The impact of experimental cuts on the Next-to-Leading Order K factors for Higgs and ZZ production is small. The discovery potential of the H ! 4l modes is re-evaluated. With the application of conservative higher order corrections the amount of luminosity needed to achieve a 5 σ signal significance with the H ! 4l modes drops by 30 35%, depending on the Higgs mass.