Strong gauge boson scattering at the LHC

Abstract

In the standard model with electroweak symmetry breaking through the Higgs mechanism, electroweak gauge-boson scattering amplitudes are large if the Higgs boson is heavy, and electroweak gauge interactions become strong. In theories with electroweak symmetry breaking through alternative mechanisms, there could be a strongly interacting gauge sector, possibly with resonances in an accessible energy region. In general, the scattering of longitudinally polarized massive gauge bosons can give information on the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. At energies below the symmetry breaking scale, the equivalence theorem relates the scattering amplitudes to those of the "would-be" Goldstone modes. In the absence of Higgs bosons, unitarity would be restored by some new physics which can be studied through WW scattering. Some representatives models are discussed. Isolating WW scattering at a hadron collider from other contributions involving W emission from parton lines needs a good understanding of the backgrounds. Resonances, if they exist below about a TeV, would be feasible of observation at the LHC.