An EWPD SMEFT likelihood for the LHC -- and how to improve it with measurements of W and Z boson properties

Abstract

This paper presents a computer code for analyzing electroweak precision data (EWPD) in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), highlights the importance of recent ATLAS and CMS precision measurements, and introduces a novel analysis of the forward-backward asymmetry at the LHC. The computer code provides the likelihood of SMEFT Wilson coefficients based on precision measurements of $W$ and $Z$ pole observables, interpolation formulas for Standard Model predictions, and modular SMEFT parametrizations. SMEFT predictions including next-to-leading-order (NLO) effects in perturbative and SMEFT expansion are available and five alternative electroweak input parameter schemes are supported. The likelihood addresses shortcomings of previous formulations in the treatment of parametric uncertainties and can be straightforwardly included in SMEFT fits of LHC data. The input parameter scheme dependence and role of NLO corrections is studied for the EWPD fit in the SMEFT. Furthermore, the impact of recent ATLAS and CMS measurements - of the $W$ boson mass and width, of the lepton flavour universality (LFU) of $W$ branching fractions, and the effective leptonic weak mixing angle - is analyzed. A test of LFU that surpasses the precision of existing measurements is proposed based on the weak mixing angle measurement. Finally, an ATLAS Drell-Yan triple-differential cross-section measurement is reinterpreted in the SMEFT and combined with the EWPD likelihood. This analysis demonstrates the feasibility of the LFU precision test, improves constraints on muon couplings with respect to the world average, and determines a combination of the quark-coupling asymmetry parameters $A_u$ and $A_d$ with a precision comparable to that of the heavy flavour parameters $A_c$ and $A_b$.