How to find a Higgs boson with a mass between 155 and 180 GeV at the CERN LHC

We reconsider the signature of events with two charged leptons and missing energy as a signal for the detection of the standard model Higgs boson in the mass region M(Higgs)=155{endash}180 GeV. It is shown that a few simple experimental criteria allow us to distinguish events originating from the Higgs boson decaying to H{r_arrow}W{sup +}W{sup {minus}} from the nonresonant production of W{sup +}W{sup {minus}}X at the CERN LHC. With this set of cuts, signal to background ratios of about one to one are obtained, allowing a 5{endash}10{sigma} detection with about 5 fb{sup {minus}1} of luminosity. This corresponds to less than one year of running at the initial lower luminosity L=10{sup 33} cm{sup {minus}2}s{sup {minus}1}. This is significantly better than for the hitherto considered Higgs boson detection mode H{r_arrow}Z{sup 0}Z{sup 0{asterisk}}{r_arrow}2scr(l){sup +}2scr(l){sup {minus}}, where in this mass range about 100 fb{sup {minus}1} of integrated luminosity are required for a 5{sigma} signal. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}