Upper Bounds on the Lightest Higgs Boson Mass in General Supersymmetric Standard Models ⋆

In a general supersymmetric standard model there is an upper bound m h on the tree level mass of the CP = +1 lightest Higgs boson which depends on the electroweak scale, tan β and the gauge and Yukawa couplings of the theory. When radiative corrections are included, the allowed region in the (m h , m t) plane depends on the scale Λ, below which the theory remains perturbative, and the supersymmetry breaking scale Λ s , that we fix to 1 T eV. In the minimal model with Λ = 10 16 GeV : m h < 130 GeV and m t < 185 GeV. In non-minimal models with an arbitrary number of gauge singlets and Λ = 10 16 GeV : m h < 145 GeV and m t < 185 GeV. We also consider supersymmetric standard models with arbitrary Higgs sectors. For models whose couplings saturate the scale Λ = 10 16 GeV we find m h < 155 GeV and m t < 190 GeV. As one pushes the saturation scale Λ down to Λ s , the bounds on m h and m t increase. For instance, in models with Λ = 10 T eV , the upper bounds for m h and m t go to 415 GeV and 385 GeV , respectively.