The Higgs puzzle: experiment and theory

Abstract

The present experimental and theoretical knowledge of the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking is reviewed. Data still favor a light Higgs boson, of a kind that can be comfortably accommodated in the Standard Model or in its Minimal Supersymmetric extension, but exhibit a non-trivial structure that leaves some open questions. The available experimental information may still be reconciled with the absence of a light Higgs boson, but the price to pay looks excessive. Recent theoretical ideas, linking the weak scale with the size of possible extra spatial dimensions, are briefly mentioned. It is stressed once more that experiments at high-energy colliders, such as the Tevatron and the LHC, are the crucial tool for eventually solving the Higgs puzzle.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, invited talk at the 20th International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies (Lepton Photon 01), Rome, Italy, 23-28 July 200