The Higgs Boson Width is Adjustable

Abstract

We show that it is possible to construct models in which the width of the Higgs boson is arbitrary - either smaller or larger than a standard model Higgs boson of the same mass. There are no new fields into which the Higgs boson decays. Instead, the coupling of the Higgs boson to the gauge bosons is adjusted. We construct and analyze weakly--coupled models with arbitrary--width Higgs bosons to investigate the phenomenology one might find in a strongly interacting model. In any such model new physics must enter at a mass scale which decreases as the Higgs boson width is adjusted away from its standard model value. In particular, if the Higgs boson is wider than the standard model Higgs boson, then interesting new physics must appear in the isospin--two channel.