The analysis of the Higgs search results at LEP showed that a part of the MSSM parameter space with non-zero complex phases could not be excluded, where the lightest neutral Higgs boson, h_1, has a mass of only about 45 GeV and the second lightest ne
utral Higgs boson, h_2, has a sizable branching fraction into a pair of h_1 states. Full one-loop results for the Higgs cascade decay h_2 --> h_1 h_1 are presented and combined with two-loop Higgs propagator corrections taken from the program FeynHiggs. Using the improved theoretical prediction to analyse the limits on topological cross sections obtained at LEP, the existence of an unexcluded region at low Higgs mass is confirmed. The effect of the genuine vertex corrections on the size and shape of this region is discussed.
Complete one-loop results for the decay widths of neutral Higgs bosons (h_a) into lighter neutral Higgs bosons (h_b, h_c) are presented for the MSSM with complex parameters. The results are obtained in the Feynman-diagrammatic approach, taking into a
ccount the full dependence on the spectrum of supersymmetric particles and all complex phases of the supersymmetric parameters. The genuine triple-Higgs vertex contributions are supplemented with two-loop propagator-type corrections, yielding the currently most precise prediction for this class of processes. The genuine vertex corrections turn out to be very important, yielding a large increase of the decay width compared to a prediction based on the tree-level vertex. The new results are used to analyse the impact of the experimental limits from the LEP Higgs searches on the parameter space with a very light MSSM Higgs boson. It is found that a significant part of the parameter space of the CPX benchmark scenario exists where channels involving the decay h_2 --> h_1 h_1 have the highest search sensitivity, and the existence of an unexcluded region with M_{h_1} approx 45 GeV is confirmed.
The prospects for central exclusive diffractive (CED) production of MSSM Higgs bosons at the LHC are reviewed. It is shown that the CED channels, making use of forward proton detectors at the LHC installed at 220 m and 420 m distance around ATLAS and
/ or CMS, can provide important information on the Higgs sector of the MSSM. In particular, CED production of the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons h and H and their decays into bottom quarks has the potential to probe interesting regions of the M_A--tan_beta parameter plane of the MSSM and may give access to the bottom Yukawa couplings of the Higgs bosons up to masses of M_H approx 250 GeV.
Some aspects of electroweak physics at the International Linear Collider (ILC) are reviewed. The importance of precision measurements in the Higgs sector and in top-quark physics is emphasized, and the physics potential of the GigaZ option of the ILC
is discussed. It is shown in particular that even in a scenario where the states of new physics are so heavy that they would be outside of the reach of the LHC and the first phase of the ILC, the GigaZ precision on the effective weak mixing angle may nevertheless allow the detection of quantum effects of new physics.
CP-violating effects in the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters (cMSSM) are induced by potentially large higher-order corrections. As a consequence, all three neutral Higgs bosons can mix with each other.
Recent results for loop corrections in the Higgs sector of the cMSSM are reviewed. Results for propagator-type corrections of O(alpha_t alpha_s) and complete one-loop results for Higgs cascade decays of the kind h_a -> h_b h_c are summarised, and the proper treatment of external Higgs bosons in Higgs-boson production and decay processes is discussed.
We review the physics potential of the GigaZ option of the International Linear Collider (ILC) for probing the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) via the sensitivity of the electroweak precision observables measured at the ILC to quantum co
rrections. A particular focus is put on the effective leptonic weak mixing angle, sin^2_theta_eff. The MSSM predictions take into account the complete one-loop results including the full complex phase dependence, all available MSSM two-loop corrections as well as the full Standard Model (SM) results. We find that the anticipated experimental accuracy at the ILC with GigaZ option may resolve the virtual effects of SUSY particles even in scenarios where the SUSY particles are so heavy that they escape direct detection at the LHC and the first phase of the ILC.
Indirect information about the possible scale of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking can be obtained from the comparison of precisely measured observables (and also of exclusion limits) with accurate theory predictions incorporating SUSY loop corrections.
Recent results are reviewed obtained from a combined analysis of the most sensitive electroweak precision observables (EWPO), M_W, sin^2_theta^eff, Gamma_Z, (g-2)_mu and M_h, and B-physics observables (BPO), BR(b -> s gamma), BR(B_s -> mu^+mu^-), BR(B_u -> tau u_tau) and Delta M_{B_s}. Assuming that the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) provides the cold dark matter density preferred by WMAP and other cosmological data, chi^2 fits are performed to the parameters of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM), in which the SUSY-breaking parameters are universal at the GUT scale, and the non-universal Higgs model (NUHM), in which this constraint is relaxed for the soft SUSY-breaking contributions to the Higgs masses. Within the CMSSM indirect bounds on the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson are derived.
Recent results on MSSM Higgs physics at the LHC are reviewed. The dependence of the LHC discovery reach in the bbar b H/A, H/A to tau^+tau^- channel on the underlying SUSY scenario is analysed. This is done by combining the latest results for the pro
spective CMS experimental sensitivities for an integrated luminosity of 30 or 60 fb^-1 with state-of-the-art theoretical predictions of MSSM Higgs-boson properties. The results are interpreted in terms of the parameters governing the MSSM Higgs sector at lowest order, M_A and tan_beta. While the higgsino mass parameter mu has a significant impact on the prospective discovery reach (and correspondingly the ``LHC wedge region), it is found that the discovery reach is rather stable with respect to variations of other supersymmetric parameters. Within the discovery region a determination of the masses of the heavy neutral Higgs bosons with an accuracy of 1-4% seems feasible. It is furthermore shown that Higgs-boson production in central exclusive diffractive channels can provide important information on the properties of the neutral MSSM Higgs bosons.
