First order electroweak radiative corrections to the decay of the polarised $W$ boson

TL;DR

This paper provides detailed analytic calculations of electroweak radiative corrections to polarized W boson decay into heavy quarks, emphasizing the significance of fermion mass effects for accurate theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive analytic results including finite fermion masses for electroweak corrections in polarized W decay processes.

Findings

Mass effects significantly influence decay rate and branching ratios.

Collinear limit analysis highlights importance of fermion masses.

Results aid in refining experimental-theoretical comparisons.

Abstract

Analytic results for the next-to-leading order electroweak radiative corrections to the decay of the polarised $W$ boson into a pair of heavy quarks are presented. Finite fermion masses are taken into account throughout this calculation, and in performing the collinear limit for the final quark states and all light fermions taking part in this process, the importance of mass effects is demonstrated. This gives hints for the deviation of the total decay rate and the branching ratios into massive fermions between experimental measurements and theoretical predictions.