Loop Effects of Exotic Leptons on Vector-Boson Pair Production at e^+e^- Colliders

Abstract

We study quantum effects of exotic heavy leptons on the production of two vector bosons in e^+e^- annihilation. We present closed analytic expressions for vector-boson self-couplings and differential cross sections, within the framework of two favourable new-physics scenarios: (i) the fourth-generation Majorana-neutrino model and (ii) an E_6-inspired model with sequential mirror isodoublets. We constrain these models by requiring that their contributions to the oblique electroweak parameters be compatible with a recent global fit to high-precision data. We then systematically analyze the loop-induced deviations in the LEP2 cross section of e^+e^- -> W^+W^- predicted by the models thus confined.

Comments: 28 pages (Latex), 14 figures (Postscript)