The Higgs Boson Mass as a Probe of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

Recently, the LEP collaborations have reported a lower bound on a Standard Model-like Higgs boson of order 89 GeV. We discuss the implications of this bound for the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). In particular, we show that the lower bound on $\tan\beta$, which can be obtained from the presently allowed Higgs boson mass value, becomes stronger than the one set by the requirement of perturbative consistency of the theory up to scales of order $M_{GUT}$ (associated with the infrared fixed-point solution of the top quark Yukawa coupling) in a large fraction of the allowed parameter space. The potentiality of future LEP2 searches to further probe the MSSM parameter space is also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, LateX, psfi

CPsuperH2.3: an Updated Tool for Phenomenology in the MSSM with Explicit CP Violation

We describe the Fortran code CPsuperH2.3, which incorporates the following updates compared with its predecessor CPsuperH2.0. It implements improved calculations of the Higgs-boson masses and mixing including stau contributions and finite threshold effects on the tau-lepton Yukawa coupling. It incorporates the LEP limits on the processes e^+ e^- to H_i Z, H_i H_j and the CMS limits on H_i to tau^+ tau^- obtained from 4.6/fb of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. It also includes the decay mode H_i to Z gamma and the Schiff-moment contributions to the electric dipole moments of Mercury and Radium225, with several calculational options for the case of Mercury. These additions make CPsuperH2.3 a suitable tool for analyzing possible CP-violating effects in the MSSM in the era of the LHC and a new generation of EDM experimentsComment: 31 pages, 10 eps figures, 7 tables; H to Z gamma and SM BRs included; To appear in CPC; Typos in Eq.(A.2) corrected;The program may be obtained from http://www.hep.man.ac.uk/u/jslee/CPsuperH.html, or by contacting the first author at [email protected]; A comment added after Eq.(15) and a typo in Eq.(A.4) correcte

The complementarity of LEP, the Tevatron and the LHC in the search for a light MSSM Higgs boson

We study the properties of the Higgs boson sector in the MSSM, putting special emphasis on radiative effects which can affect the discovery potential of the LHC, Tevatron and/or LEP colliders. We concentrate on the V b b-bar channel, with V=Z or W, and on the channels with diphoton final states, which are the dominant ones for the search for a light Standard Model Higgs boson at LEP/Tevatron and LHC, respectively. By analyzing the regions of parameter space for which the searches in at least one of these colliders can be particularly difficult, we demonstrate the complementarity of these three colliders in the search for a light Higgs boson which couples in a relevant way to the W and Z gauge bosons (and hence plays a relevant role in the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking).Comment: 35 pages, including 11 Postscript figures, using JHEP.cl

Do electroweak precision data and Higgs-mass constraints rule out a scalar bottom quark with mass of O(5 GeV)?

We investigate the phenomenological implications of a light scalar bottom quark, with a mass of about the bottom quark mass, within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The study of such a scenario is of theoretical interest, since, depending on their production and decay modes, light sbottoms may have escaped experimental detection up to now and, in addition, may naturally appear for large values of \tan\beta. In this article we show that such a light sbottom cannot be ruled out by the constraints from the electroweak precision data and the present bound on the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass at LEP. It is inferred that a light sbottom scenario requires in general a relatively light scalar top quark whose mass is typically about the top-quark mass. It is also shown that under these conditions the lightest CP-even Higgs boson decays predominantly into scalar bottom quarks in most of the parameter space and that its mass is restricted to m_h ~< 123 GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LateX. Discussion about fine tuning and low-energy experiments enlarged. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Constraints on split-UED from Electroweak Precision Tests

We present strongly improved electroweak precision constraints on the split-UED model. We find that the dominating effect arises from contributions to the muon decay rate by the exchange of even-numbered W-boson Kaluza-Klein modes at tree-level, which so far have not been discussed in the context of UED models. The constraints on the split-UED parameter space are translated into bounds on the mass difference of the first Kaluza-Klein mode of fermions and the lightest Kaluza-Klein mode, which will be tested is the LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Isolated leptons from heavy flavor decays: Theory and data

Events with isolated leptons play a prominent role in signatures of new physics phenomena at high energy collider physics facilities. In earlier publications, we examine the standard model contribution to isolated lepton production from bottom and charm mesons and baryons through their semileptonic decays (b, c -> l + X), showing that this source can overwhelm the effects of other standard model processes in some kinematic domains. In this paper, we show that we obtain good agreement with recent Tevatron collider data, both validating our simulations and showing that we underestimate the magnitude of the heavy-flavor contribution to the isolated lepton yields. We also show that the isolation requirement acts as a narrow bandpass filter on the momentum of the isolated lepton, and we illustrate the effect of this filter on the background to Higgs boson observation in the dilepton mode. We introduce and justify a new rule of thumb: isolated electrons and muons from heavy flavor decay are produced with roughly the same distributions as b and c quarks, but with 1/200 times the rates of b and c production, respectively.Comment: 12 pg, revtex, 5 fig, corrected typo

Properties of 125 GeV Higgs boson in non-decoupling MSSM scenarios

Tantalizing hints of the Higgs boson of mass around 125 GeV have been reported at the LHC. We explore the MSSM parameter space in which the 125 GeV state is identified as the heavier of the CP even Higgs bosons, and study two scenarios where the two photon production rate can be significantly larger than the standard model (SM). In one scenario, $\Gamma(H\to \gamma\gamma)$ is enhanced by a light stau contribution, while the $WW^{\ast}$ ($ZZ^{\ast}$) rate stays around the SM rate. In the other scenario, $\Gamma(H\to b\bar{b})$ is suppressed and not only the $\gamma\gamma$ but also the $WW^{\ast}$ ($ZZ^{\ast}$) rates should be enhanced. The $\tau\bar{\tau}$ rate can be significantly larger or smaller than the SM rate in both scenarios. Other common features of the scenarios include top quark decays into charged Higgs boson, single and pair production of all Higgs bosons in $e^+e^-$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}\lesssim 300$ GeV.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, accepted version for publication in JHE

Suggestions for Improved Benchmark Scenarios for Higgs-Boson Searches at LEP2

We suggest new benchmark scenarios for the Higgs-boson search at LEP2. Keeping m_t and M_SUSY fixed, we improve on the definition of the maximal mixing benchmark scenario defining precisely the values of all MSSM parameters such that the new m_h^max benchmark scenario yields the parameters which maximize the value of m_h for a given tan(beta). The corresponding scenario with vanishing mixing in the scalar top sector is also considered. We propose a further benchmark scenario with a relatively large value of |mu|, a moderate value of M_SUSY, and moderate mixing parameters in the scalar top sector. While the latter scenario yields m_h values that in principle allow to access the complete M_A-tan(beta)-plane at LEP2, on the other hand it contains parameter regions where the Higgs-boson detection can be difficult, because of a suppression of the branching ratio of its decay into bottom quarks.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, Contribution to the Workshop on ``New Theoretical Developments for Higgs Physics at LEP2'', CERN, October 199

Weakly coupled neutral gauge bosons at future linear colliders

A weakly coupled new neutral gauge boson forms a narrow resonance that is hard to discover directly in e+e- collisions. However, if the gauge boson mass is below the center-of-mass energy, it can be produced through processes where the effective energy is reduced due to initial-state radiation and beamstrahlung. It is shown that at a high-luminosity linear collider, such a gauge boson can be searched for with very high sensitivity, leading to a substantial improvement compared to existing limits from the Tevatron and also extending beyond the expected reach of the LHC in most models. If a new vector boson is discovered either at the Tevatron Run II, the LHC or the linear collider, its properties can be determined at the linear collider with high precision, thus helping to reveal origin of the new boson.Comment: 21 p