Nonstandard Higgs boson decays

Abstract

This review summarizes the motivations for and the phenomenological consequences of nonstandard Higgs boson decays, with an emphasis on final states containing a pair of non-standard model particles that subsequently decay to standard model particles. Typically these non-standard model particles form part of a "hidden" sector, for example a pair of neutral Higgs bosons or a pair of unstable neutralinos. We emphasize that such decays allow for a Higgs substantially below the standard model Higgs Large ElectronPositron Collider limit of 114 GeV. A Higgs with standard model WW, ZZ, and top couplings and a mass near 100 GeV eliminates the fine-tuning problems of many beyond the standard model theories, in particular supersymmetric models, and leads to excellent consistency with precision electroweak data. Copyright © 2008 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.