HEAVY BOSON PRODUCTION THROUGH THE COLLISION OF AN ULTRAHIGH-ENERGY NEUTRINO ON A TARGET NUCLEON

Abstract

We discuss W and Z production through the deep inelastic [Formula: see text]-scattering in the context of the standard model SU (3)C× SU (2)L× U (1) of the strong and electroweak interactions. We find the cross-section rates for the process [Formula: see text] for the case of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos (1014 eV ≤Eν≤1017 eV ) colliding on a target nucleon [Formula: see text]. We also calculate [Formula: see text] in order to compare it with [Formula: see text]. We show that the cross-section rates for the process [Formula: see text] did not become so large as one could expect, due to the strong destructive interference between the two different mechanisms which contribute at the lowest order in α (keeping only photon exchange diagrams). This destructive interference mechanism is inherent to the standard model as a non-Abelian gauge theory.