Complete two-loop effective potential approximation to the lightest Higgs scalar boson mass in supersymmetry

I present a method for accurately calculating the pole mass of the lightest Higgs scalar boson in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model, using a mass-independent renormalization scheme. The Higgs scalar self-energies are approximated by supplementing the exact one-loop results with the second derivatives of the complete two-loop effective potential in Landau gauge. I discuss the dependence of this approximation on the choice of renormalization scale, and note the existence of particularly poor choices, which fortunately can be easily identified and avoided. For typical input parameters, the variation in the calculated Higgs boson mass over a wide range of renormalization scales is found to be of the order of a few hundred MeV or less, and is significantly improved over previous approximations.