Precision Electroweak Measurements and Constraints on the Standard Model

This note presents constraints on Standard Model parameters using published and preliminary precision electroweak results measured at the electron-positron colliders LEP and SLC. The results are compared with precise electroweak measurements from other experiments, notably CDF and D{\O}at the Tevatron. Constraints on the input parameters of the Standard Model are derived from the combined set of results obtained in high-$Q^2$ interactions, and used to predict results in low-$Q^2$ experiments, such as atomic parity violation, M{\o}ller scattering, and neutrino-nucleon scattering. The main changes with respect to the experimental results presented in 2008 are new combinations of results on the W-boson mass and the mass of the top quark.Comment: 18 page

Precision Measurements and Fermion Geography in the Randall-Sundrum Model Revisited

We re-examine the implications of allowing fermion fields to propagate in the five-dimensional bulk of the Randall-Sundrum (RS) localized gravity model. We find that mixing between the Standard Model top quark and its Kaluza Klein excitations generates large contributions to the rho parameter and consequently restricts the fundamental RS scale to lie above 100 TeV. To circumvent this bound we propose a `mixed' scenario which localizes the third generation fermions on the TeV brane and allows the lighter generations to propagate in the full five-dimensional bulk. We show that this construction naturally reproduces the observed m_c / m_t and m_s / m_b hierarchies. We explore the signatures of this scenario in precision measurements and future high energy collider experiments. We find that the region of parameter space that addresses the hierarchies of fermion Yukawa couplings permits a Higgs boson with a mass of 500 GeV and remains otherwise invisible at the LHC. However, the entire parameter region consistent with electroweak precision data is testable at future linear colliders. We briefly discuss possible constraints on this scenario arising from flavor changing neutral currents.Comment: 44 pages, 20 ps files; VII, typos fixed and refs adde

Z-Decays to b Quarks and the Higgs Boson Mass

A model independent analysis of the most recent averages of precision electroweak data from LEP and SLD finds a 3$\sigma$ deviation of the parameter $A_b$ from the Standard Model prediction. The fitted value of $m_H$ shows a strong dependence on the inclusion or exclusion of b quark data, and the Standard Model fits have poor confidence levels of a few percent when the latter are included. The good fits obtained to lepton data, c quark data and the directly measured top quark mass, give $m_t = 171.2_{-3.8}^{+3.7}$ GeV and indicate that the Higgs boson mass is most likely less than 200 GeV.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 6 table