Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-gauge-field-theory-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/1/ii/solution

In the stronger limit , both intermediate W bosons must be virtual. Their heavy propagators suppress the four-fermion decay amplitude, while the small available phase space suppresses its rate further. At energies small compared with , integrating out the two vectors gives a local interaction proportional to . Its dimension-seven coefficient implies a rate of order when all four final fermions can be treated as massless, with channel-dependent constants. This is a low-energy scaling statement, not the on-shell longitudinal-width formula. Other accessible Higgs boson decay channels, such as a pair of fermions or loop-induced two-photon decay, must then be compared using their actual masses and couplings.

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