The Phenomenology of a Hidden Symmetry Breaking Sector at Electron-Positron Colliders

Abstract

We calculate the production rate of gauge-boson pairs at $e^+e^-$ colliders in a model with a ``hidden'' electroweak symmetry breaking sector - i.e. one in which there are a large number of particles in the symmetry breaking sector other than the $W^{\pm}$ \thinspace and the $Z^0$. In such a model, the elastic $W^{\pm}$ \thinspace and $Z^0$ scattering amplitudes are small and structureless, i.e. lacking any discernable resonances, at all energies. We show that two gauge boson fusion signal of electroweak symmetry breaking is swamped by the background. Therefore, we cannot rely on gauge boson pairs as a signal of the dynamics of symmetry breaking.