CAN THE MASS OF THE LIGHTEST HIGGS BOSON OF THE MINIMAL SUPERSYMMETRIC MODEL BE LARGER THAN MZ

In the minimal supersymmetric model (MSSM), the tree-level mass of the lightest Higgs scalar h0 cannot be larger than the mass of the Z boson. We have computed the one-loop radiative correction to the upper bound on m(h)0 as a function of the free parameters of the MSSM. We find that the dominant correction to m(h)0 - m(Z) is large and positive and grows like m(t)4, where m(t) is the top-quark mass. As a result, the MSSM cannot be ruled out if the CERN e+e- collider LEP-200 fails to discover the Higgs boson.