The recent results on Higgs boson searches from LHC experiments provide significant guidance in exploring the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (MSSM) Higgs sector. If we accept the existence of a SM-like Higgs boson in the mass window of 123 GeV–127 GeV as indicated by the observed $\gamma \gamma$ events, there are two distinct mass regions (in $m_A$) left in the MSSM Higgs sector: (a) the lighter $CP$-even Higgs boson being SM-like and the non-SM-like Higgs bosons all heavy and nearly degenerate above 300 GeV (an extended decoupling region); (b) the heavier $CP$-even Higgs boson being SM-like and the neutral non-SM-like Higgs bosons all nearly degenerate around 100 GeV (a small non-decoupling region). On the other hand, due to the strong correlation between the Higgs decays to $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ and to $\gamma \gamma$ predicted in the MSSM, the apparent absence of a $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ final state signal is in direct conflict with the $\gamma \gamma$ peak. If we consider the $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ channel on its own, the absence of the $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ signal would imply that the SM-like Higgs boson has reduced coupling to $W^{\pm }$, and that the other non-SM-like Higgs bosons should not be too heavy and do not decouple. If both the $\gamma \gamma$ excess and the absence of a $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ signal continue, new physics beyond the MSSM will be required. A similar correlation exists between the $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ and ${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ channels: a reduced $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ channel would force the ${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ channel to be larger. Future searches for the SM-like Higgs boson at the LHC will provide critical tests for the MSSM prediction. We also study the signals predicted for the non-SM-like Higgs bosons and emphasize the potential importance of the electroweak processes $pp\to H^{+}{H}^{-}$, $H^{\pm }{A}^0$, which are independent of the SUSY parameters except for their masses. In addition, there may be sizable contributions from $pp\to H^{\pm }{h}^0$, $A^0{h}^0$ and $W^{\pm }{H}^0$, $Z{H}^0$ in the low-mass non-decoupling region, which may serve to discriminate the model parameters. We allow variations of the relevant SUSY parameters in a broad range and demonstrate the correlations and constraints on these parameters and associated SUSY particles.

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