The profile of a nonstandard Higgs boson at the LHC

In a wide class of extensions of the Standard Model there is a scalar resonance with the quantum numbers of the usual Higgs boson but with different couplings to fermions and gauge bosons. Using an effective Lagrangian description, we examine the phenomenology of such a generic nonstandard Higgs boson at the LHC. In particular, we determine the circumstances under which such a particle can be observed in its $ZZ$ decay mode and distinguished from the Higgs boson of the Standard Model. We briefly comment on the energy scale effectively probed at the LHC, if the nonstandard nature of an observed Higgs particle can be asserted.