Precise Predictions for Four-Fermion Production in Electron-Positron Annihilation

Abstract

The complete O(alpha) electroweak radiative corrections to e+e- --> WW --> 4f in the electroweak Standard Model are presented in the double-pole approximation. We give analytical and numerical results for the non-factorizable corrections and express the factorizable virtual corrections in terms of the known corrections to on-shell W-pair production and W decay. The full matrix elements to the lowest order processes e+e- --> 4f+gamma are taken into account for the real corrections. The matching of soft and collinear singularities between virtual and real corrections is done using the subtraction method. A Monte Carlo generator is constructed which corresponds to the subtraction branch of RacoonWW. Various numerical results are presented.

doctoral thesis, latex, 122 pages, 57 postscript figures