Longitudinally polarized ZZ scattering at a muon collider

Measuring longitudinally polarized vector boson scattering in, e.g., the ZZ channel is a promising way to investigate the unitarization scheme from the Higgs and possible new physics beyond the Standard Model. However, at the LHC, it demands the end of the high-luminosity-LHC lifetime luminosity, 3000 fb(-1), and advanced data analysis technique to reach the discovery threshold due to its small production rates. Instead, there could be great potential at future colliders. In this paper, we perform a Monte Carlo study and examine the projected sensitivity of longitudinally polarized ZZ scattering at a TeV scale muon collider. We conduct studies at 14 and 6 TeV muon colliders respectively and find that a 5 standard deviation discovery can be achieved at a 14 TeV muon collider, with 3000 fb(-1) of data collected. While a 6 TeV muon collider can already surpass high-luminosity LHC, reaching 2 standard deviations with around 4 ab(-1) of data. The effect from lepton isolation and detector granularity is also discussed, which may be more obvious at higher energy muon colliders, as the leptons from longitudinally polarized Z decays tend to be closer.

Automated summary

Investigating longitudinally polarized ZZ scattering as a way to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model requires high-luminosity colliders and advanced data analysis techniques. Monte Carlo studies on muon colliders suggest that there is potential for greater discoveries in future colliders, with sensitivity and discovery thresholds varying at different energy levels.