  HiggsBounds is a computer code that tests theoretical predictions of models
with arbitrary Higgs sectors against the exclusion bounds obtained from the
Higgs searches at LEP and the Tevatron. The included experimental information
comprises exclusion bounds at 95% C.L. on topological cross sections. In order
to determine which search topology has the highest exclusion power, the program
also includes, for each topology, information from the experiments on the
expected exclusion bound, which would have been observed in case of a pure
background distribution. Using the predictions of the desired model provided by
the user as input, HiggsBounds determines the most sensitive channel and tests
whether the considered parameter point is excluded at the 95% C.L. HiggsBounds
is available as a Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 code. The code can be invoked as a
command line version, a subroutine version and an online version. Examples of
exclusion bounds obtained with HiggsBounds are discussed for the Standard
Model, for a model with a fourth generation of quarks and leptons and for the
Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with and without CP-violation. The
experimental information on the exclusion bounds currently implemented in
HiggsBounds will be updated as new results from the Higgs searches become
available.
