Abstract: | The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for the neutral Higgs bosons which are predicted by
the Minimal Supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The data of the four collaborations are statistically combined and examined
for their consistency with the background hypothesis and with a possible Higgs boson signal. The combined LEP data show no
significant excess of events which would indicate the production of Higgs bosons. The search results are used to set upper
bounds on the cross-sections of various Higgs-like event topologies. The results are interpreted within the MSSM in a number
of “benchmark” models, including CP-conserving and CP-violating scenarios. These interpretations lead in all cases to large
exclusions in the MSSM parameter space. Absolute limits are set on the parameter cosβ and, in some scenarios, on the masses
of neutral Higgs bosons. |