Effective field theory for heavy vector resonances coupled to the Standard Model

Abstract

We construct an effective field theory describing the decays of a heavy vector resonance V into Standard Model particles. The effective theory is built using an extension of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory called SCETBSM, which provides a rigorous framework for parameterizing decay matrix elements with manifest power counting in the ratio of the electroweak scale and the mass of the resonance, λ ∼ v/mV. Using the renormalization-group evolution of the couplings in the effective Lagrangian, large logarithms associated with this scale ratio can be resummed to all orders. We consider in detail the two-body decays of a heavy Z′ boson and of a Kaluza-Klein gluon at leading and subleading order in λ. We illustrate the matching onto SCETBSM with a concrete example of a UV-complete new-physics model.