MATCHING CONDITIONS AND HIGGS-BOSON MASS UPPER-BOUNDS REEXAMINED

Matching conditions relate couplings to particle masses. We discuss th e importance of one-loop matching conditions in the Higgs boson and to p quark sector as well as the choice of the matching scale. We argue f or matching scales mu(0,t) similar or equal to m(t) and mu(0,H) simila r or equal to max{m(t), M-H}. Using these results, the two-loop Higgs boson mass upper bounds are reanalyzed. Previous results for Lambda ap proximate to few TeV are found to be too stringent, and a recent updat e is. found to be wrong. For Lambda = 10(19) GeV we find M-H < 180 +/- 4 +/- 5 GeV, the first error indicating the theoretical uncertainty a nd the second error reflecting the experimental uncertainty due to m(t ) = 175 +/- 6 GeV. Hence a Higgs boson mass of about 160-170 GeV certa inly satisfies both upper and lower Higgs boson mass bounds for cutoff scales up to Lambda = 10(19) GeV if m(t) = 175 GeV. For such Higgs bo son and top quark masses the renormalization group behavior of the min imal standard model does not require new physics to set in before the Planck scale.