Effective potential methods and the Higgs mass spectrum in the MSSM

We generalize the analytical expressions for the two-loop leading-log neutral Higgs boson masses and mixing angles to the case of general left- and right-handed soft supersymmetry breaking stop and sbottom masses and left--right mixing mass parameters ($m_Q, m_U, m_D, A_t, A_b$). This generalization is essential for the computation of Higgs masses and couplings in the presence of light stops. At high scales we use the minimal supersymmetric standard model effective potential, while at low scales we consider the two-Higgs doublet model (renormalization group improved) effective potential, with general matching conditions at the thresholds where the squarks decouple. We define physical (pole) masses for the top-quark, by including QCD self-energies, and for the neutral Higgs bosons, by including the leading one-loop electroweak self-energies where the top/stop and bottom/sbottom sectors propagate. For $m_Q=m_U=m_D$ and moderate left--right mixing mass parameters, for which the mass expansion in terms of renormalizable Higgs quartic couplings is reliable, we find excellent agreement with previously obtained results.