Nearby resonances beyond the Breit-Wigner approximation

TL;DR

This paper develops a refined approach to modeling nearby particle resonances that accounts for quantum interference effects beyond the traditional Breit-Wigner approximation, impacting cross section predictions in particle physics.

Contribution

It introduces a method incorporating interference effects from common decay channels into resonance propagator descriptions, improving accuracy over the Breit-Wigner approximation.

Findings

Interference effects can significantly alter cross sections.

Long-lived resonances may appear narrower due to interference.

The method is applicable to models like multi-Higgs and Higgsless scenarios.

Abstract

We consider a description of propagators for particle resonances which takes into account the quantum mechanical interference due to the width of two or more nearby states that have common decay channels, by incorporating the effects arising from the imaginary parts of the one-loop self-energies. Depending on the couplings to the common decay channels, the interference effect, not taken into account in the usual Breit-Wigner approximation, can significantly modify the cross section or make the more long-lived resonance narrower. We give few examples of New Physics models for which the effect is sizable, namely a generic two and multiple Higgs model and neutral vector resonances in Higgsless models. Based on these results we suggest the implementation of a proper treatment of nearby resonances into Monte Carlo generators.