ON THE ROLE OF THE HIGGS MECHANISM IN PRESENT ELECTROWEAK PRECISION TESTS

Based on the observables M(w), Gamma(l), s(w)(-2)(M(Z)(2)), we evaluat e the parameters Delta x, Delta y and epsilon at one-loop level within an electroweak massive vector-boson theory, which does not employ the Higgs mechanism. The theoretical results are consistent with the expe rimental ones on Delta x, Delta y, epsilon. The theoretical prediction for Delta(y) coincides with the standard-model one (apart from numeri cally irrelevant terms which vanish for M(H) --> infinity). Non-renorm alizability only affects Delta x and epsilon, which differ from the st andard-model results by the replacement log M(H) --> log Lambda for a heavy Higgs mass, M(H) (where Lambda denotes an effective UV cut-off).