High-precision electroweak experiments: A global search for new physics beyond the Standard Model

This paper provides a theoretical framework for the high-precision (≤1%) electroweak experiments that are likely to be done in the next ten years. The authors have collected the Standard Model (SM) predictions of 14 weak neutral-current observables and 15 $W$ and $Z$ properties to the one-loop level and have calculated the deviations that would be caused by ten general types of possible new physics that enter at the tree or loop level. Certain experiments appear to have special promise as probes of the new physics considered here. Most importantly, a systematic procedure is introduced that provides a prescription for the analysis of future experimental data and the means of delineating the nature of new physics if quantitative deviations from SM predictions are observed.