RADIATIVE DECAYS OF HIGGS BOSONS IN MINIMAL EXTENSIONS OF THE STANDARD MODEL

The radiative decay modes H --> gammagamma, gammaZ have been found to be viable at SSC/LHC for detection of an intermediate mass range Higgs boson expected in the standard model (SM). A precise measurement of the decay widths of these modes may be used to distinguish among theories beyond the SM. We present results obtained for the respective decay widths in minimal extensions of the SM: left-right symmetric models with a minimal Higgs potential, the minimal supersymmetric standard model, and SU(2) x U(1) invariant Lagrangians in which any new physics appears as nonrenormalizable, effective interactions. We conclude that only in the last case the SM decay widths for these radiative modes may be enhanced.