Prospects for Higgs Searches via VBF at the LHC with the ATLAS Detector

We report on the potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson with the vector boson fusion mechanism in the mass range $115<M_H<500\,\gev$ with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Feasibility studies at hadron level followed by a fast detector simulation have been performed for $H\rightarrow W^{(*)}W^{(*)}\rightarrow l^+l^-\sla{p_T}$, $H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ and $H\rightarrow ZZ\rightarrow l^+l^-q\overline{q}$. The results obtained show a large discovery potential in the range $115<M_H<300\,\gev$. Results obtained with multivariate techniques are reported for a number of channels.