No Arabic abstract
We show that a Z with suppressed couplings to the electron compared to the Z-boson, with couplings to the b-quark, and with a mass close to the mass of the Z-boson, provides an excellent fit to forward-backward asymmetry of the b-quark and R_b measured on the Z-pole and $pm 2$ GeV off the Z-pole, and to A_e obtained from the measurement of left-right asymmetry for hadronic final states. It also leads to a significant improvement in the total hadronic cross section on the Z-pole and R_b measured at energies above the Z-pole. In addition, with a proper mass, it can explain the excess of $Zbbar b$ events at LEP in the 90-105 GeV region of the $bbar b$ invariant mass.
We report on a recent calculation of the complete NLO QCD and electroweak corrections to the process $pptomu^+ u_mu e^+ u_ejj$, i.e. like-sign charged vector-boson scattering. The computation is based on the complete amplitudes involving two different orders of the strong and electroweak coupling constants at tree level and three different orders at one-loop level. We find electroweak corrections of $-13%$ for the fiducial cross section that are an intrinsic feature of the vector-boson scattering process. For differential distributions, the corrections reach up to $-40%$ in the phase-space regions explored. At the NLO level a unique separation between vector-boson scattering and irreducible background processes is not possible any more at the level of Feynman diagrams.
Vector-boson scattering (VBS) processes probe the innermost structure of electroweak interactions in the Standard Model, and provide a unique sensitivity for new physics phenomena affecting the gauge sector. In this review, we report on the salient aspects of this class of processes, both from the theory and experimental point of view. We start by discussing recent achievements relevant for their theoretical description, some of which have set important milestones in improving the precision and accuracy of the corresponding simulations. We continue by covering the development of experimental techniques aimed at detecting these rare processes and improving the signal sensitivity over large backgrounds. We then summarise the details of the most relevant VBS signatures and review the related measurements available to date, along with their comparison with Standard-Model predictions. We conclude by discussing the perspective at the upcoming Large Hadron Collider runs and at future hadron facilities.
Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of new neutral spin-1 resonances associated to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Using the data from ATLAS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.02 fb^{-1}) and CMS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.55 fb^{-1}) on the production of W+W- pairs through the process pp -> l^+ l^{prime -} sla{E}_T, we place model independent bounds on these new vector resonances masses, couplings and widths. Our analyses show that the present data excludes new neutral vector resonances with masses up to 1-2.3 TeV depending on their couplings and widths. We also demonstrate how to extend our analysis framework to different models working a specific example.
We present a fit to precision electroweak data in the standard model extended by an additional vector boson, Z, with suppressed couplings to the electron compared to the Z boson, with couplings to the b-quark, and with mass close to the mass of the Z boson. This scenario provides an excellent fit to forward-backward asymmetry of the b-quark measured on the Z-pole and pm 2 GeV off the Z-pole, and to lepton asymmetry, A_e, obtained from the measurement of left-right asymmetry for hadronic final states, and thus it removes the tension in the determination of the weak mixing angle from these two measurements. It also leads to a significant improvement in the total hadronic cross section on the Z-pole and R_b measured at energies above the Z-pole. We explore in detail properties of the Z needed to explain the data and present a model for Z with required couplings. The model preserves standard model Yukawa couplings, it is anomaly free and can be embedded into grand unified theories. It allows a choice of parameters that does not generate any flavor violating couplings of the Z to standard model fermions. Out of standard model couplings, it only negligibly modifies the left-handed bottom quark coupling to the Z boson and the 3rd column of the CKM matrix. Modifications of standard model couplings in the charged lepton sector are also negligible. It predicts an additional down type quark, D, with mass in a few hundred GeV range, and an extra lepton doublet, L, possibly much heavier than the D quark. We discuss signatures of the Z at the Large Hadron Collider and calculate the Zb production cross section which is the dominant production mechanism for the Z.
The model independent bounds on new neutral vector resonances masses, couplings and widths presented at arxiv:1112.0316 are updated with an integrated luminosity of L=4.7 fb^-1 from ATLAS and L=4.6 fb^-1 from CMS. These exclusion limits correspond to the most stringent existing bounds on the production of new neutral spin-1 resonances that decay to electroweak gauge boson pairs and that are associated to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector in several extensions of the Standard Model.