Natural fermion mass hierarchy and new signals for the Higgs boson

We suggest a novel approach towards resolving the fermion mass hierarchy problem within the framework of the standard model. It is shown that the observed masses and mixings can be explained with order one couplings using successive higher dimensional operators involving the SM Higgs doublet field. This scenario predicts a flavor-dependent enhancement in the Higgs boson coupling to the fermions. It also predicts a flavor changing (t) over bar ch(0) interaction with a strength comparable to that of (b) over bar bh(0), opening up new discovery channels for the Higgs boson at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC. Additional tests of the framework include observable D-0-(D) over bar(0) mixing and a host of new phenomena associated with flavor physics at the TeV scale.