The \gamma \gamma \to Z Z process and the search for virtual SUSY effects at a \gamma \gamma Collider

We study the helicity amplitudes of the process in the Standard Model at high energy. These amplitudes receive contributions from the W and charged quark and lepton loops, analogous to those encountered in the cases studied before. But also receives contributions from the Higgs s-channel poles involving the effective Higgs- vertex. At energies , the amplitudes in all three processes are mainly helicity-conserving and almost purely imaginary; which renders them a very useful tool in searching for New Physics. As an example, a SUSY case is studied, and the signatures due to the virtual effects induced by a chargino-, charged slepton- or a lightest stop-loop in , are explored. These signatures, combined with the analogous ones in and , should help identifying the nature of possible New Physics particles. Received: 3 September 1999 / Published online: 3 February 2000     

The \gamma \gamma \to \gamma \gamma process in the standard and SUSY models at high energies

We study the helicity amplitudes of the process at high energy, which in the standard and SUSY models first arise at the one-loop order. In the standard model (SM), the diagrams involve , charged-quark, and lepton loops, while in SUSY, we also have contributions from chargino-, charged-sfermion, and Higgs-loop diagrams. The SUSY contributions are most important in the region above the threshold for producing the supersymmetric partners; there, they interfere most effectively with the primarily imaginary SM amplitudes. Simple expressions for the relevant one-loop functions are given which provide a direct overview of the behaviour of the helicity amplitudes in the whole parameter space at high energies. The various characteristics of a large set of observables are studied in detail. Received: 3 February 1999 / Pulished online: 30 June 1999     

The heavy neutral Higgs signature in the \gamma \gamma \to Z Z process

If the standard model (SM) Higgs particle is sufficiently heavy, then its contribution to should be largely imaginary, interfering with the also predominantly imaginary SM “background” generated by the W loop. For standard model Higgs masses in the region GeV, this interference is found to be constructive and increasing the Higgs signal. In the minimal SUSY case an interference effect should also appear for the contribution of the heavier CP-even neutral Higgs boson , provided it is sufficiently heavy. The effect is somewhat reduced, though, by the smallness of the width and the and ZZ branching ratios. The interference is again found to be constructive for part of the parameter space corresponding to sfermion masses at the TeV scale and maximal stop mixing. For both the SM and the SUSY case, regions of the parameter space exist, though, where the interference may be destructive. It is therefore essential to take these effects into account when searching for possible scalar Higgs-like candidates. To this aim, we present the complete analytic expressions for both resonance and background amplitudes. Received: 20 October 2000 / Revised version: 5 January 2001 / Published online: 23 February 2001     

W\gamma and Z\gamma production at hadron colliders

We present a general purpose Monte Carlo program for the calculation of any infrared safe observable in and production at hadron colliders at next-to-leading order in . We treat the leptonic decays of the W and Z-boson in the narrow-width approximation, but retain all spin information via decay angle correlations. The effect of anomalous triple gauge boson couplings is investigated and we give the analytical expressions for the corresponding amplitudes. Furthermore, we propose a way to study the effect of anomalous couplings without introducing the ambiguity of form factors. Received: 14 February 2000 / Published online: 18 May 2000     

The processes \gamma\gamma\to Z H in SM and MSSM

The process first arises at the one loop level, and as such it provides us with remarkable tests of the structure of the electroweak Higgs sector. These tests are complementary to those in the gauge sector involving . We show that in the standard model (SM) where , as well as in the supersymmetric case where or , observables exist (like e.g. the energy dependence, angular distribution, photon polarization dependence or final Z polarization) which present rather spectacular properties. Such properties involve strong threshold effects with steps, bumps or peaks, reflecting the type of Higgs and heavy quarks and chargino masses and couplings predicted by the SM and supersymmetric models. Received: 13 March 2001 / Published online: 13 June 2001     

SUSY virtual effects at the LEP2 boundary

We examine the possibility that SUSY particles are light, i.e. have a mass just beyond the final kinematical reach of LEP2. In this case, even if light particles are not directly detected, their virtual effects are enhanced by a “close-to-threshold” resonance in the s-channel. We find that this resonant effect is absent in the case of light sfermions, while it is enhanced in the case of light gauginos, since neutralinos and charginos add coherently in some regions of the allowed parameter space. We discuss this “virtual alliance” in detail and try to examine the possibilities of its experimental verification. Received: 19 March 1999 / Published online: 12 August 1999     

\gamma^* \gamma^* reactions at high energies

The total hadronic cross sections at high energy are calculated as a function of energy and photon virtuality in a model combining Reggeon exchange, the quark box diagram (a fixed pole in Regge language) and soft and hard pomeron exchanges evaluated in the context of dipole-dipole scattering. Good agreement is obtained with the data for the real cross section and for the real photon structure function . However the model prediction for the cross section is too small. This is attributed to an incorrect extrapolation of the dependence of the hard pomeron adopted here. Parametrising it independently shows that the hard part of the cross section can be well represented by a simple Regge pole with intercept . Received: 19 August 1999 / Published online: 3 February 2000     

Testing non-commutative QED \gamma\gamma\gamma and \gamma\gamma\gamma\gamma couplings at LHC

In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of the process at LHC for the photonic 3- and 4-point functions that appear in non-commutative QED. We show that this process serves to study the behavior of the space-space as well as of the space-time non-commutativity. We also show that this process can probe the non-commutative scale in the range of a few TeV.Received: 9 February 2004, Revised: 27 February 2004, Published online: 8 April 2004     

Factorization theorems for high energy nn, \gamma p and \gamma\gamma scattering

The robustness of the factorization theorem for total cross sections, for nn (the even portion of pp and scattering), and scattering, originally proved by Block and Kaidalov using an eikonal formalism, is demonstrated. Factorization theorems for the nuclear slope parameter B and , the ratio of the real to the imaginary portion of the forward scattering amplitude, are derived under very general conditions, using analyticity and the optical theorem.Received: 19 February 2003, Revised: 10 July 2003, Published online: 19 September 2003Work partially supported by Department of Energy contract DA-AC02-76-Er02289 Task D.     

A search at high energies for antineutrino-electron elastic scattering

We have searched for candidates for the weak neutral leptonic current reaction $\text{ν}{}_{\mathrm{\mu }}\text{+}\text{e}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{→}\text{ν}{}_{\mathrm{\mu }}\text{+}\text{e}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ in the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber filled with a heavy neon-hydrogen mix. Based on zero observed events of this type we find the 90% confidence level upper limit for the rate for this reaction relative to the total antineutrino charged current rate to be 3.9 × 10^?4 and, in the Weinberg-Salam model, sin²θ_W ? 0.37.     

General one-loop formulas for decay $$h\rightarrow Z\gamma $$

Radiative corrections to the decay \(h\rightarrow Z\gamma \) are evaluated in the one-loop approximation. The unitary gauge is used. The analytic result is expressed in terms of the Passarino-Veltman functions. The calculations are applicable for the Standard Model as well for a wide class of its gauge extensions. In particular, the decay width of a charged Higgs boson \(H^{\pm }\rightarrow W^{\pm }\gamma \) can be derived. The consistence of our formulas and several specific earlier results is shown.     

The process\pi ^0 \to \lambda _\gamma \bar \lambda _\gamma as an alternative to\pi ^0 \to v\bar v

The process \(\pi ^0 \to \lambda _\gamma \bar \lambda _\gamma \) is investigated as an alternative to \(\pi ^0 \to v\bar v\) . It is shown that the experimental bound on the branching fraction for missing energy (in the form of \(\lambda _\gamma \bar \lambda _\gamma \) and/or \(v\bar v\) ) may be understood in terms of \(\pi ^0 \to \lambda _\gamma \bar \lambda _\gamma \) for the kinematically allowed photino mass, if the squark mass is >8 GeV.     

Angular asymmetries and final state polarization effects ine^ - e^ + \to \gamma , {\rm Z}^0 \to q\bar qg

We discuss the forward-backward asymmetry and the polarization (mean helicity) of the quark, antiquark and gluon ine ^? e ⁺→γ, \(e^ - e^ + \to \gamma , {\rm Z}^0 \to q\bar qg\) , and of the inclusively produced hadrons (baryons or vector mesons) belonging to the most energetic jet. In the energy range of present interest we find substantial asymmetries (up to 30%) and polarizations (up to 15%), with partons (predominantly antiquarks) of positive helicity emitted preferentially in the forward direction.