English

Constraints on SMEFT operators from $Z \to \mu \mu bb$ decay

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-05-13 v3

Abstract

The Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) provides a systematic framework to probe indirect effects of heavy new physics via precision measurements. While SMEFT constraints have been extensively studied using purely leptonic ZZ decays and inclusive ZZ production, mixed leptonic-hadronic modes remain largely unexplored. In this work, we analyze ZμμbbZ \to \mu\mu bb decays within the SMEFT framework, deriving constraints on dimension-six operators that affect four-fermion interactions between leptons and bottom quarks, as well as ZZ-fermion couplings. Signal and background events are simulated with state-of-the-art Monte Carlo tools, including detector effects such as bb-tagging, and limits on the relevant Wilson coefficients are extracted using kinematic distributions and a profile likelihood approach. Our results provide complementary constraints to existing SMEFT studies and yield the first process-specific limits on flavor-resolved four-fermion operators involving muons and bottom quarks from ZZ decays.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.23226,
  title  = {Constraints on SMEFT operators from $Z \to \mu \mu bb$ decay},
  author = {Zijian Wang and Tianyi Yang and Tianyu Mu and Andrew Levin and Qiang Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.23226},
  year   = {2026}
}