ZFITTER v.6.21 - A Semi-Analytical Program for Fermion Pair Production in e+e- Annihilation

TL;DR

ZFITTER v.6.21 is a semi-analytical Fortran program that accurately computes fermion pair production in electron-positron annihilation across various energies, incorporating complete electroweak and QED corrections for precise experimental analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible, semi-analytical approach with multiple calculational chains for comprehensive electroweak and QED corrections in fermion pair production at e+e- colliders.

Findings

Accurate calculations of cross-sections and asymmetries across energies

Inclusion of complete O(alpha) weak loop corrections

Flexible interfaces for parameter fitting

Abstract

We describe ZFITTER, a Fortran program based on a semi-analytical approach to fermion pair production in e+e- annihilation at a wide range of centre-of-mass energies, including the PETRA, TRISTAN, LEP1/SLC, and LEP2 energies. A flexible treatment of complete O(alpha) QED corrections and of some higher order contributions is made possible with three calculational chains containing different realistic sets of restrictions in the photon phase space. Numerical integrations are at most one-dimensional. Complete O(alpha) weak loop corrections supplemented by selected higher-order terms may be included. The program calculates Delta r, the Z width, differential cross-sections, total cross-sections, integrated forward-backward asymmetries, left-right asymmetries, and for tau pair production also final-state polarization effects. Various interfaces allow fits to be performed with different sets of free parameters.