The Zbb Couplings at Future e+e- Colliders

TL;DR

This paper evaluates how future e+e- colliders can significantly improve constraints on Zbb couplings, testing the Standard Model and probing new physics with high precision measurements.

Contribution

It updates current Zbb coupling constraints, identifies key observables for improvement, and estimates the precision reach of CEPC, ILC, and FCC-ee colliders under various scenarios.

Findings

Future colliders can rule out the SM Zbb couplings with >99.9999% CL.

Improved measurements will enhance constraints on new physics models.

Complementarity with LHC and Higgs measurements strengthens new physics searches.

Abstract

Many new physics models predict sizable modifications to the SM Zbb couplings, while the corresponding measurements at LEP and SLC exhibit some discrepancy with the SM predictions. After updating the current results on the Zbb coupling constraints from global fits, we list the observables that are most important for improving the Zbb coupling constraints and estimate the expected precision reach of three proposed future e+e- colliders, CEPC, ILC and FCC-ee. We consider both the case that the results are SM-like and the one that the Zbb couplings deviate significantly from the SM predictions. We show that, if we assume the value of the Zbb couplings to be within 68% CL of the current measurements, any one of the three colliders will be able to rule out the SM with more than 99.9999% CL (5 sigma). We study the implications of the improved Zbb coupling constraints on new physics models, and point out their complementarity with the constraints from the direct search of new physics particles at the LHC, as well as with Higgs precision measurements. Our results provide a further motivation for the construction of future e+e- colliders.