Precision diboson observables for the LHC

Motivated by the restoration of SU(2) x U(1) at high energy, we suggest that certain ratios of diboson differential cross sections can be used as high-precision observables at the LHC. We rewrite leading-order diboson partonic cross sections in a form that makes their SU(2) x U(1) and custodial SU(2) structure more explicit than in previous literature, and identify important aspects of this structure that survive even in hadronic cross sections. We then focus on higher-order corrections to ratios of gamma gamma, Z gamma and ZZ processes, including full next-to-leading-order corrections and gg initial-state contributions, and argue that these ratios can likely be predicted to better than 5%, which should make them useful in searches for new phenomena. The ratio of Z gamma to gamma gamma is especially promising in the near term, due to large rates and to exceptional cancellations of QCD-related uncertainties. We argue that electroweak corrections are moderate in size, have small uncertainties, and can potentially be observed in these ratios in the long run.