To be or not to be: Higgs impostors at the LHC

Abstract

Consider the day when an invariant mass peak, roughly compatible with "the Higgs", begins to emerge, say at the LHC, ... and may you see that day. There will be a difference between discovery and scrutiny. The latter would involve an effort to ascertain what it is, or is not, that has been found. It turns out that the two concepts are linked: Scrutiny will naturally result in deeper knowledge - is this what you were all looking for? - but may also speed up discovery.