Leptonic Decays of the W-Boson in a Strong Electromagnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper calculates how strong electromagnetic fields influence the decay rate of W-bosons into leptons and neutrinos, revealing significant deviations from vacuum decay widths depending on field strength.

Contribution

It provides an exact analytic expression for W-boson decay width in arbitrary electromagnetic fields, extending understanding of particle decay under extreme conditions.

Findings

Decay width decreases by about 7.4% in weak fields.

Decay width increases significantly in superstrong fields, exceeding vacuum values by over ten times.

Field strength critically affects W-boson decay rates.

Abstract

The probability of W-boson decay into a lepton and a neutrino in a strong electromagnetic field is calculated. On the basis of the method for deriving exact solutions to relativistic wave equations for charged particles, an exact analytic expression is obtained for the partial W-decay width at an arbitrary value of the external field strength. It is found that, in the region of comparatively weak fields, field-induced corrections to the standard decay width of the W-boson in a vacuum are about a few percent. In these conditions at first we observe the decrease of the W-boson partial decay width with the increase of the external field strength parameter. At absolute minimum the W-width deviates from the corresponding vacuum value by a factor 0,926. Then with further augmentation of the background field intensity the W-boson decay width grows monotonously. In superstrong fields the partial W-width is greater than the corresponding one in vacuum in a dozen of times.