Signal and Backgrounds for Leptoquarks at the LHC

We study the potentiality of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to unravel the existence of first generation scalar leptoquarks. Working with the most general $SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$ invariant leptoquark interactions, we analyze in detail the signals and backgrounds that lead to a final state containing a pair $e^+e^-$ and jets. Our results indicate that a machine like the LHC will be able to discover leptoquarks with masses up to 2--3 TeV depending on their couplings.