Search for a light Standard Model Higgs boson in the H → WW(*) → e⁺ve^-v̄ channel

A prospective analysis for the discovery of a light Standard Model Higgs boson in the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The analysis focuses on the inclusive single production p + p → H + X and the Higgs boson decay channel H → WW(*) → e⁺ve ^-v̄, for a mass M_H in the range 120 < M _H < 160 GeV/c². A full simulation of the CMS detector response is performed and emphasis is put on the use of detailed electron reconstruction, as well as on realistic treatment of background contamination and systematics. A Higgs boson of mass M_H ≳ 134 GeV/c ² would be observed with a significance above 3 standard deviations in the e⁺ve^-v̄ channel alone for an integrated luminosity above 30 fb^-1.