Inelastic channels inWWscattering

If the electroweak symmetry-breaking sector becomes strongly interacting at high energies, it can be probed through longitudinal W scattering. We present a model with many inelastic channels in the ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$ ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$ scattering process, corresponding to the production of heavy fermion pairs. These heavy fermions affect the elastic scattering of ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$’s by propagating in loops, greatly reducing the amplitudes in some charge channels. We conclude that the symmetry-breaking sector cannot be fully explored by using, for example, the ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}^{\pm }$ ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}^{\pm }$ mode alone, even when no resonance is present; all ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$ ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$→${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$ ${\mathit{W}}_{\mathit{L}}$ scattering modes must be measured.