Searching for VV -> H -> tau tau at the CERN LHC

The production of a neutral, CP even Higgs via weak boson fusion and decay H -> tau tau at the LHC is studied for the Standard Model and MSSM, utilizing a parton level Monte Carlo analysis. This channel allows a 5 sigma observation of a Standard Model Higgs with an integrated luminosity of about 30 fb^-1, and provides a direct measurement of the H-tau-tau coupling. For the MSSM case, a highly significant signal for at least one of the Higgs bosons with reasonable luminosity is possible over the entire physical parameter space which will be left unexplored by LEP2.