Electroweak accuracy in V-pair production at the LHC

Abstract

Vector-boson pair production is of great phenomenological importance at the LHC. These processes will help to validate the Standard Model at highest energies, and they may also open the door for the discovery of new physics potentially showing up in subtle modifications of the non-abelian structure of weak interactions. In this letter, we present the first full $\mathcal{O}(\alpha^3)$ analysis of on-shell W$^\pm$Z and Z-pair production at the LHC with all mass effects consistently included. The resulting electroweak corrections are negative, strongly increase with increasing transverse momenta, and lead to significant modifications of rapidity and angular distributions. In view of the high energies accessible at the LHC, combined with considerable event rates, our results have to be included in a proper analysis of experimental data.