Higgs Boson Properties in the Standard Model and its Supersymmetric Extensions

Abstract

We review the realization of the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism in the electroweak theory and describe the experimental and theoretical constraints on the mass of the single Higgs boson expected in the minimal Standard Model. We also discuss the couplings of this Higgs boson and its possible decay modes as functions of its unknown mass. We then review the structure of the Higgs sector in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM), noting the importance of loop corrections to the masses of its five physical Higgs bosons. Finally, we discuss some non-minimal models.

Comments: To be published in "Search of the Higgs Particle", Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, France