Electroweak Radiative Corrections

A new framework to study electroweak physics at one-loop level in general ${\rm SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y}$ theories is introduced. It separates the 1-loop corrections into two pieces: process specific ones from vertex and box contributions and the universal ones due to contributions to the gauge boson propagators. The latter are parametrized in terms of four effective form factors, $\bar{e}^2(q^2)$, $\bar{s}^2(q^2)$, $\bar{g}_Z^2(q^2)$, and $\bar{g}_W^2(q^2)$, correspondingly to $\gamma\gamma$, $\gamma Z$, $ZZ$, and $WW$ propagators. By assuming only the standard model contributions to the process specific corrections, the magnitudes of the four form factors are determined at $q^2=0$ and at $q^2=m_Z^2$ from all available precision experiments. These values are then compared systematically with the predictions of the ${\rm SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y}$ theories. No deviation from the standard model has been identified. Plausible range of the top quark mass is then obtained for a given Higgs boson mass and $\alpha_s$ .