Radiative corrections to γγ → W+W− in the electroweak standard model Original Research Article

The cross section for γγ → W+W− with arbitrary polarized photons and W bosons is calculated within the electroweak Standard Model including the complete virtual and soft-photonic Oα corrections. We present a detailed numerical discussion of the complete radiative corrections and an analytical investigation of the leading corrections. It turns out that in the on-shell renormalization scheme for fixed Mw no leading corrections associated with the running of α or heavy top-quark and Higgs-boson masses occur. The corrections are typically of the order of 10%. They reach, however, larger values where the lowest-order cross sections are suppressed.