Model-independent Higgs boson mass limits at LEP

Abstract

We derive model-independent constraints on Higgs mass and couplings from the present LEPI data samples and discuss the prospects for detecting the associated signals for higher masses, accessible at LEPII. This work is motivated by the fact that, in many extensions of the standard model, the Higgs boson can have substantial “invisible” decay modes, for example, into light or massless weakly interacting Goldstone bosons associated to the spontaneous violation of lepton number below the weak scale.