| Summary: | This thesis explores three classes of beyond-the-Standard Model (BSM) theories: Minimal Universal Extra Dimensions (MUED), the 4D Composite Higgs Model (4DCHM) and Technicolor. In particular, Higgs boson data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is used to test the viability of these models and constrain their parameter spaces. It turns out that this provides a valuable constraint for MUED, requiring that the compactification scale R-1 of the theory be greater than 500 GeV. More direct searches for MUED are also considered, and the creation of a software implementation of MUED in CalcHEP is discussed. This implementation is used to determine that the tri-lepton final state is the most promising discovery signature due to the high lepton multiplicity in MUED and that the exclusion reach of MUED using this signature is up to R-1 = 1200 GeV with 20 fb-1 of data from the 8 TeV LHC. The 4DCHM is also analysed in light of the Higgs data. It is found that, once direct detection constraints are applied, the model is actually a slightly better fit to Higgs data than the Standard Model for most points in the 4DCHM parameter space considered. Finally, various Technicolor models are tested against Higgs data using a more sophisticated statistical analysis and it is found that most provide viable Higgs boson candidates with broadly Standard-Model like couplings.
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