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A Study of the LEP and SLD Measurements of
A systematic study is made of the data dependence of the parameter
, that, since 1995, has shown a deviation from the Standard Model
prediction of between 2.4 and 3.1 standard deviations. Issues addressed
include: the effect of particular measurements, values found by individual
experiments, LEP/SLD comparison, and the treatment of systematic errors. The
effect, currently at the 2.4 level, is found to vary in the range from
1.7 to 2.9 by excluding marginal or particularly sensitive
data. Since essentially the full LEP and SLD Z decay data sets are now analysed
the meaning of the deviation, (new physics, or marginal statistical
fluctuation) is unlikely to be given by the present generation of colliders.Comment: 15 pages 7 figures 7 table
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