Electroweak radiative corrections to polarized Moeller scattering at high energies

Abstract

The cross section for $e^-e^- \to e^-e^-$ with arbitrary electron polarizations is calculated within the Electroweak Standard Model for energies large compared to the electron mass, including the complete virtual and soft-photonic $O(\alpha)$ radiative corrections. The relevant analytical results are listed, and a numerical evaluation is presented for the unpolarized and polarized cross sections as well as for polarization asymmetries. The relative weak corrections are typically of the order of 10%. At low energies, the bulk of the corrections is due to the running of the electromagnetic coupling constant. For left-handed electrons, at high energies the vertex and box corrections involving virtual W bosons become very important. The polarization asymmetry is considerably reduced by the weak radiative corrections.