The European Physical Journal C

ISSN: 1434-6044 (printed version)
ISSN: 1434-6052 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 4 Issue 1 (1998) pp 139-143
DOI 10.1007/s100529800740

theoretical physics:
High precision tests of QED and physics beyondthe standard model

Rafel Escribano, Eduard Massó

Grup de Física Teòrica and IFAE, Edifici Cn, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain (e-mail: escribano@ifae.es, masso@ifae.es)

Received: 2 July 1997

Abstract. We study the four most significant high precision observables of QED - the anomalous electron and muon magnetic moments, the hydrogen Lamb shift and muonium hyperfine splitting - in the context of $SU(2) \otimes U(1)$ gauge-invariant effective Lagrangians. The agreement between the theoretical predictions for these observables and the experimental data places bounds on the lowest dimension operators of the effective Lagrangians. We also place bounds on such effective operators using other experimental data. Comparison of the two types of bounds allows us to discuss the potential of each one of the four high precision observables in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. We find that the anomalous electron and muon magnetic moments are sensitive to new physics while the hydrogen Lamb shift and muonium hyperfine splitting are not.

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Online publication: June 10, 1998
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