REVIEW
Speculations on the W-Mass Measurement at CDF
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Submitted 11 Apr 2022 · 54 references
Pith's verdict: A useful, honest post-CDF-II survey whose electroweak fit tables will be cited, but the top-squark headline result rests on a loop function that does not survive a check at rr = 1.
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Referee report
The paper
The paper claims
The CDF II W boson mass sits about seven sigma above the Standard Model prediction, and this paper asks which kinds of new physics could produce that shift without disturbing the Z-pole observables that already agree with theory.
The reading
What carries the argument
The load-bearing device is the three-parameter electroweak fit in $S$, $T$ and $T$, where $T$ denotes the shift in the inferred Fermi constant from a four-fermion operator affecting muon decay. Only two independent combinations, $T - T$ and $S$, enter the Z-pole observables, so the fit has a flat direction that raises $m_W$ at fixed Z physics. That direction is what every model in the paper is scored against. The second piece of machinery is the one-loop matching of the top squark sector onto the same operator basis: the coefficients $c_T$, $c_W$, $c_B$ and $c_{WB}$ are written as explicit functions of the soft masses, the left-right mixing $X_t$ and $r_r$, and the paper shows that $r_r < 1$ turns the $X_t^4$ and $X_t^2$ terms up by a factor of a few relative to the degenerate case.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
The paper's central claim is that a top squark whose left- and right-handed soft masses differ can account for the CDF II W mass while staying inside existing LHC and vacuum-stability bounds, whereas the degenerate-mass version cannot. The argument runs through the electroweak fit. With the PDG world average for $m_W$, the three-parameter fit gives $T = 0.081$ and $T = 0.254$ once the CDF II value is used instead, with $T$ quoted at one $\sigma$ as $0.081$ versus $0.254$, and the Fermi-constant shift moving from $(2.1)$ to $(15.7)$ in units of $10^{-4}$, while $S$ stays at $0.037$. Because the Z-pole data depend only on the combinations $T - T$ and $S$, a shift along the direction where the $T$ parameter and the Fermi-constant shift are equal raises $m_W$ while leaving the Z pole untouched. Degenerate stop soft masses generate the required one-loop Wilson coefficients only for stops of 200 to 400 GeV, below the LHC reach. Taking the soft-mass ratio $r_r = m^2_{U3}/m^2_{Q3} < 1$ enhances $c_T$, $c_B$ and $c_{WB}$ by factors of a few, opening an allowed region at large left-right mixing $X_t/m_{Q3} > 1$ with the left-handed soft mass in the TeV range.
Load-bearing premise
The edge of the allowed stop region is drawn with two approximate vacuum-stability conditions that the authors themselves describe as empirical and approximated, and the paper does not independently check that they hold in the large-mixing, small-soft-mass-ratio corner where the explanation lives.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- If the CDF II value is correct, any viable model must shift the $T$ parameter and the Fermi constant together, so it needs both a source of custodial-symmetry breaking and a four-fermion operator that touches muon decay.
- A $Z'$ explanation survives the LHC dilepton limits only if the $Z'$ is made fermiophobic or leptophobic, which requires extra vector fermions mixing with the Standard Model ones and gives exotic-fermion searches a target.
- Vector-like top partners supply only part of the needed shift, so they work as one ingredient of an explanation rather than a complete one.
- The preferred stop region has large left-right mixing, which also lifts the Higgs mass toward 125 GeV and ties the W mass explanation to a Higgs-sector prediction.
- A $WW$-threshold scan at a future lepton collider, measuring $m_W$ to about 1 MeV, would establish whether the anomaly is real and would put an upper bound on the scale of the new physics.
- The eight-parameter flavor-universal fit lowers the minimum $\chi^2$ from 28.3 to 17.1, so part of the nominal seven-sigma tension can be absorbed by operators unrelated to $m_W$.
Reading between the lines
- The flat direction the paper identifies is effectively a one-number target, which means the model survey is less a search over theories than a test of which theories can hit that number without leaving other traces; the leptophobic $Z'$ construction is doing more work than the abstract's phrasing suggests.
- Because the tension shrinks as the fit gains parameters, a reader should treat the seven sigma as framework-dependent rather than as a fixed experimental number, and the paper's own caveat that a new world average is needed makes the size of the anomaly a moving target.
- If the non-degenerate stop corner is real, the same large $A_t$ that fixes $m_W$ also controls stop decays and Higgs-to-stop-pair phase space, so a stop search and a Higgs invisible-width measurement would probe the same parameter.
- The paper's emphasis that the lightest stop should be right-handed to evade LHC bounds suggests a concrete search strategy: soft displaced vertices from a compressed right-handed stop spectrum, which the authors note is not yet covered.
Original abstract
The W Mass determination at the Tevatron CDF experiment reported a deviation from the SM expectation at 7$\sigma$ level. We discuss a few possible interpretations and their collider implications. We perform electroweak global fits under various frameworks and assumptions. We consider three types of electroweak global fits in the effective-field-theory framework: the $S$-$T$, the $S$-$T$-$\delta G_F$, and the eight-parameter flavor-universal one. We discuss the amounts of tensions between different $m_W$ measurements reflected in these fits and the corresponding shifts in central values of these parameters. With these electroweak fit pictures in hand, we present a few different classes of models and discuss their compatibility with these results. We find that while explaining the $m_W$ discrepancy, the single gauge boson extensions face strong LHC direct search constraints unless the $Z'$ is fermiophobic (leptophobic) which can be realized if extra vector fermions (leptons) mix with the SM fermions (leptons). Vector-like top partners can partially generate the needed shift to the electroweak observables. The compatibility with top squark is also studied in detail. We find non-degenerate top squark soft masses enhance the needed operator coefficients, enabling an allowed explanation compatible with current LHC measurements. Overall, more theory and experimental developments are highly in demand to reveal the physics behind this discrepancy.
The compiled record
The paper's own sentences, arranged, kept beside the review and separate from it. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.
The abstract, sentence by sentence
The W Mass determination at the Tevatron CDF experiment reported a deviation from the SM expectation at 7$\sigma$ level. We discuss a few possible interpretations and their collider implications. We perform electroweak global fits under various frameworks and assumptions. We consider three types of electroweak global fits in the effective-field-theory framework: the $S$-$T$, the $S$-$T$-$\delta G_F$, and the eight-parameter flavor-universal one. We discuss the amounts of tensions between different $m_W$ measurements reflected in these fits and the corresponding shifts in central values of these parameters. With these electroweak fit pictures in hand, we present a few different classes of models and discuss their compatibility with these results. We find that while explaining the $m_W$ discrepancy, the single gauge boson extensions face strong LHC direct search constraints unless the $Z'$ is fermiophobic (leptophobic) which can be realized if extra vector fermions (leptons) mix with the SM fermions (leptons). Vector-like top partners can partially generate the needed shift to the electroweak observables. The compatibility with top squark is also studied in detail. We find non-degenerate top squark soft masses enhance the needed operator coefficients, enabling an allowed explanation compatible with current LHC measurements. Overall, more theory and experimental developments are highly in demand to reveal the physics behind this discrepancy.
background contribution method result interpretation main claim
| # | sentence | role | the authors' own work | states the main conclusion | strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s0 | The W Mass determination at the Tevatron CDF experiment reported a deviation from the SM expectation at 7$\sigma$ level. | background 0.97 | 0.09 | 0.16 | asserted 1.00 |
| s1 | We discuss a few possible interpretations and their collider implications. | contribution 0.92 | 0.65 | 0.03 | unclear 0.59 |
| s2 | We perform electroweak global fits under various frameworks and assumptions. | method 0.78 | 0.93 | 0.03 | asserted 0.95 |
| s3 | We consider three types of electroweak global fits in the effective-field-theory framework: the $S$-$T$, the $S$-$T$-$\delta G_F$, and the eight-parameter flavor-universal one. | method 0.91 | 0.86 | 0.03 | asserted 0.93 |
| s4 | We discuss the amounts of tensions between different $m_W$ measurements reflected in these fits and the corresponding shifts in central values of these parameters. | contribution 0.48 | 0.75 | 0.04 | asserted 0.61 |
| s5 | With these electroweak fit pictures in hand, we present a few different classes of models and discuss their compatibility with these results. | contribution 0.86 | 0.82 | 0.05 | asserted 0.58 |
| s6 | We find that while explaining the $m_W$ discrepancy, the single gauge boson extensions face strong LHC direct search constraints unless the $Z'$ is fermiophobic (leptophobic) which can be realized if extra vector fermions (leptons) mix with the SM fermions (leptons). | result 0.93 | 0.90 | 0.31 | asserted 0.99 |
| s7 | Vector-like top partners can partially generate the needed shift to the electroweak observables. | result 0.93 | 0.63 | 0.06 | hedged possibility 0.60 |
| s8 | The compatibility with top squark is also studied in detail. | contribution 0.97 | 0.76 | 0.03 | asserted 0.63 |
| s9 | We find non-degenerate top squark soft masses enhance the needed operator coefficients, enabling an allowed explanation compatible with current LHC measurements. | result 0.99 | 0.92 | 0.16 | asserted 1.00 |
| s10 | Overall, more theory and experimental developments are highly in demand to reveal the physics behind this discrepancy. | future work 1.00 | 0.16 | 0.20 | asserted 0.73 |
What was examined, and what was not
- arXiv listing abstract v2
- full text
- figures and tables
- references and citing sentences
- relations to other papers
- P abstract
- S sections
- T body sentences
- C citations
- R cross-paper relations
Figures
Figures reproduced from arXiv:2204.05296 by the authors.
References
How the literature uses it
59 arXiv papers cite this in 72 sentences
Papers citing it · 33 sentences without a confident label
Uses its method or tool 1 paper
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Our analysis mainly follows Refs. [ref] , and is a slightly simplified version of the ones in Refs. [ref] .
Accommodating the CDF W-boson Mass Measurement in the Beautiful Mirror Model · Electroweak global fit · 0.97
Uses its data or values 1 paper
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The recent result reported by the CDF collaboration improve the precision to $δm_W =9.4$ MeV [ref] (with an intriguing deviation from the SM electroweak fit and other collider measurements [ref] ).
Physics at Future Colliders: the Interplay Between Energy and Luminosity · Lepton colliders: sub-TeV case · 0.92
Compares with it 1 paper
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Our results are consistent within $1σ$ with Ref. [ref] .
Electroweak precision tests for triplet scalars · Electroweak global fits · 1.00
Cites it as support 1 paper
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According to Ref. [ref] , it is hard to explain $m^CDF_W$ without going beyond the SM.
Status of the two-Higgs-doublet model in light of the CDF $m_W$ measurement · Introduction · 1.00
Cites it as background 34 papers
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The EW global fits with the CDF $m_W$ data considered have been performed in Refs. [ref] .
Corrections to electroweak precision observables from mixings of an exotic vector boson in light of the CDF $W$-mass anomaly · Introduction · 0.85
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For recent work on PEW fits in light of the new CDF $W$ mass measurement as well as applications to the dark photon model see Refs. [ref] .
Precision Electroweak Tensions and a Dark Photon · Introduction · 0.88
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There have been many attempts to resolve the W mass anomaly, see e.g. [ref] .
Constraints from New CDF II W-Boson Mass On Top-Bottom Seesaw and the TopFlavor Models · Introduction · 0.99
What it cites · 35 sentences without a confident label
Uses the method or tool of 10 papers
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The SMEFT parameterization in our analysis follow closely the ones in Refs. [ref] (see also Refs. [ref] ), where the contributions to observables from the dimension-6 operators are calculated at the tree-level, but normalized to the SM predictions.
Updated Global SMEFT Fit to Higgs, Diboson and Electroweak Data · EW Fit · 1.00
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The SMEFT parameterization in our analysis follow closely the ones in Refs. [ref] (see also Refs. [ref] ), where the contributions to observables from the dimension-6 operators are calculated at the tree-level, but normalized to the SM predictions.
Putting SMEFT Fits to Work · EW Fit · 1.00
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The SMEFT parameterization in our analysis follow closely the ones in Refs. [ref] (see also Refs. [ref] ), where the contributions to observables from the dimension-6 operators are calculated at the tree-level, but normalized to the SM predictions.
Combined SMEFT interpretation of Higgs, diboson, and top quark data from the LHC · EW Fit · 1.00
Uses data or values from 6 papers
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The SM predictions are taken from the central values of the SM-fit in Ref. [ref] , except for $m_W$, which is from Ref. [ref] .
The global electroweak fit at NNLO and prospects for the LHC and ILC · EW Fit · 1.00
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For the Z-pole measurements, we use the results in Ref. [ref] , where the correlations (if available) are also included.
Precision Electroweak Measurements on the Z Resonance · EW Fit · 1.00
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The direct detection of $13$ TeV LHC on singlet top partner excludes the mass region $m_T <1.31$ TeV [ref] , which corresponds to the black region in <ref>.
Combination of the searches for pair-produced vector-like partners of the third-generation quarks at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector · singlet top partner · 0.91
Compares with 6 papers
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As in Ref. [ref] , here the central values of $c_WB$ and $C_T$ becomes negative, and we observe very strong correlations among $c_WB$, $c_T$ and $c_He$ in the range $0.93$-$0.96$ (see <ref>), which are also strongly correlated with $c^1221_ℓℓ$.
Model-independent precision constraints on dimension-6 operators · EW Fit · 0.93
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Our results from this simple treatment for the $S, T$ parameters are in good agreement with the ones from Ref. [ref] .
The global electroweak fit at NNLO and prospects for the LHC and ILC · EW Fit · 1.00
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Note added: Recent studies [ref] also performed EW global fits to the new CDF $m_W$ measurements, which are generally in good agreement with our results.
Impact of the recent measurements of the top-quark and W-boson masses on electroweak precision fits · Outlook · 0.90
Cites as background 1 paper
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And then the electroweak symmetry $SU(2)_L ×U(1)_Y$ is broken by Higgs doublet [ref] .
A Revisit to Top Quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry · case II: right-handed breaking · 0.85
Discussion
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