- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Muon collider probes of the gluonic quartic gauge couplings

Yu-Chen Guo1,2,*, Peng-Cheng Lu3,4,†, and Tong Arthur Wu2,‡

  • *Contact author: ycguo@lnnu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: pclu@sdu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: tow39@pitt.edu
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 113, 115012 – Published 5 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sws9-5bw3

Abstract

We investigate the dimension-8 gluonic quartic gauge couplings at future high-energy muon colliders through the process μ+μ−→ggγ. Using detailed event simulation and optimized kinematic selections, we derive projected sensitivities to the Wilson coefficients and their associated new-physics scales, showing that muon colliders can probe deep into the multi-TeV regime and significantly surpass current LHC bounds. We further present the positivity bounds on those Wilson coefficients, as theoretical constraints from the fundamental principles of quantum field theory. Our results establish μ+μ−→ggγ as one of the most sensitive probes of dimension-8 new physics at future muon colliders.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (71)

  1. Y. Farzan and M. Tortola, Front. Phys. 6, 10 (2018).
  2. C. A. Argüelles et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 15 (2023).
  3. D. P. Aguillard et al. (Muon g-2 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 161802 (2023).
  4. A. Crivellin and B. Mellado, Nat. Rev. Phys. 6, 294 (2024).
  5. W. Buchmuller and D. Wyler, Nucl. Phys. B268, 621 (1986).
  6. S. Weinberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 1566 (1979).
  7. D. de Florian et al. (LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group), CERN Yellow Rep. Monogr. 2, 1 (2017).
  8. O. J. P. Eboli, M. C. Gonzalez-Garcia, and J. K. Mizukoshi, Phys. Rev. D 74, 073005 (2006).
  9. O. J. P. Éboli and M. C. Gonzalez-Garcia, Phys. Rev. D 93, 093013 (2016).
  10. C. Degrande, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2014) 101.
  11. J. Ellis, S.-F. Ge, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Chin. Phys. C 44, 063106 (2020).
  12. J. Ellis, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 64, 221062 (2021).
  13. R. Rahaman and R. K. Singh, Nucl. Phys. B948, 114754 (2019).
  14. A. Senol, H. Denizli, A. Yilmaz, I. Turk Cakir, K. Y. Oyulmaz, O. Karadeniz, and O. Cakir, Nucl. Phys. B935, 365 (2018).
  15. J. Ellis and S.-F. Ge, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 041801 (2018).
  16. J. Ellis, S.-F. Ge, and K. Ma, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2022) 123.
  17. Z. Liu, K.-F. Lyu, and T. A. Wu, arXiv:2512.04336.
  18. Y.-C. Guo, Y.-Y. Wang, and J.-C. Yang, Nucl. Phys. B961, 115222 (2020).
  19. Y.-C. Guo, Y.-Y. Wang, J.-C. Yang, and C.-X. Yue, Chin. Phys. C 44, 123105 (2020).
  20. L. Jiang, Y.-C. Guo, and J.-C. Yang, Phys. Rev. D 104, 035021 (2021).
  21. J.-C. Yang, Y.-C. Guo, C.-X. Yue, and Q. Fu, Phys. Rev. D 104, 035015 (2021).
  22. J.-C. Yang, J.-H. Chen, and Y.-C. Guo, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2021) 085.
  23. V. Ari, E. Gurkanli, M. Köksal, A. Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, and M. A. Hernández-Ruíz, Nucl. Phys. B989, 116133 (2023).
  24. J.-C. Yang, X.-Y. Han, Z.-B. Qin, T. Li, and Y.-C. Guo, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2022) 074.
  25. J.-C. Yang, Y.-C. Guo, and Y.-F. Dong, Commun. Theor. Phys. 75, 115201 (2023).
  26. Y.-T. Zhang, X.-T. Wang, and J.-C. Yang, Phys. Rev. D 109, 095028 (2024).
  27. S. Zhang, K.-X. Chen, and J.-C. Yang, Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 378 (2025).
  28. K.-X. Chen, Y.-C. Guo, and J.-C. Yang, SciPost Phys. Core 8, 091 (2025).
  29. J. Ellis, S.-F. Ge, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Chin. Phys. C 44, 063106 (2020).
  30. J. Ellis, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 64, 221062 (2021).
  31. J.-C. Yang, Y.-C. Guo, and L.-H. Cai, Nucl. Phys. B977, 115735 (2022).
  32. Q. Fu, J.-C. Yang, C.-X. Yue, and Y.-C. Guo, Nucl. Phys. B972, 115543 (2021).
  33. J. Ellis, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Phys. Rev. D 107, 035005 (2023).
  34. S. Jahedi and J. Lahiri, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2023) 085.
  35. S. Jahedi, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2023) 031.
  36. J. Ellis, H.-J. He, and R.-Q. Xiao, Phys. Rev. D 108, L111704 (2023).
  37. Y.-C. Guo, M.-Q. Ruan, J.-C. Yang, and C.-J. Pan, Phys. Rev. D 112, 035033 (2025).
  38. D. Liu, R.-Q. Xiao, S. Li, J. Ellis, H.-J. He, and R. Yuan, Front. Phys. 20, 015201 (2025).
  39. W. Xie and J.-C. Yang, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2025) 127.
  40. J.-C. Yang, Z.-B. Qing, X.-Y. Han, Y.-C. Guo, and T. Li, J. High Energy Phys. 22 (2020) 053.
  41. Y.-F. Dong, Y.-C. Mao, and J.-C. Yang, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 555 (2023).
  42. S. Zhang, J.-C. Yang, and Y.-C. Guo, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 142 (2024).
  43. S. Zhang, Y.-C. Guo, and J.-C. Yang, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 833 (2024).
  44. M. Born and L. Infeld, Proc. R. Soc. A 144, 425 (1934).
  45. E. S. Fradkin and A. A. Tseytlin, Phys. Lett. 163B, 123 (1985).
  46. C. G. Callan and J. M. Maldacena, Nucl. Phys. B513, 198 (1998).
  47. S. Arunasalam and A. Kobakhidze, Eur. Phys. J. C 77, 444 (2017).
  48. A. Adams, N. Arkani-Hamed, S. Dubovsky, A. Nicolis, and R. Rattazzi, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2006) 014.
  49. J. Distler, B. Grinstein, R. A. Porto, and I. Z. Rothstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 041601 (2007).
  50. C. de Rham, S. Melville, A. J. Tolley, and S.-Y. Zhou, Phys. Rev. D 96, 081702 (2017).
  51. C. de Rham, S. Melville, A. J. Tolley, and S.-Y. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2018) 011.
  52. C. Zhang and S.-Y. Zhou, Phys. Rev. D 100, 095003 (2019).
  53. N. Arkani-Hamed, T.-C. Huang, and Y.-t. Huang, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2021) 259.
  54. B. Bellazzini, J. Elias Miró, R. Rattazzi, M. Riembau, and F. Riva, Phys. Rev. D 104, 036006 (2021).
  55. K. Yamashita, C. Zhang, and S.-Y. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2021) 095.
  56. X. Li, K. Mimasu, K. Yamashita, C. Yang, C. Zhang, and S.-Y. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2022) 107.
  57. Q. Bi, C. Zhang, and S.-Y. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2019) 137.
  58. C. Zhang and S.-Y. Zhou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 201601 (2020).
  59. J. Gu, L.-T. Wang, and C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 011805 (2022).
  60. Q. Chen, K. Mimasu, T. A. Wu, G.-D. Zhang, and S.-Y. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2024) 180.
  61. J. Ellis, N. E. Mavromatos, and T. You, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 261802 (2017).
  62. G. Perez, M. Sekulla, and D. Zeppenfeld, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 759 (2018).
  63. J. Alwall, R. Frederix, S. Frixione, V. Hirschi, F. Maltoni, O. Mattelaer, H. S. Shao, T. Stelzer, P. Torrielli, and M. Zaro, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2014) 079.
  64. N. D. Christensen and C. Duhr, Comput. Phys. Commun. 180, 1614 (2009).
  65. T. Sjöstrand, S. Ask, J. R. Christiansen, R. Corke, N. Desai, P. Ilten, S. Mrenna, S. Prestel, C. O. Rasmussen, and P. Z. Skands, Comput. Phys. Commun. 191, 159 (2015).
  66. J. de Favereau, C. Delaere, P. Demin, A. Giammanco, V. Lemaître, A. Mertens, and M. Selvaggi (delphes3 Collaboration), J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2014) 057.
  67. Y.-C. Guo, F. Feng, A. Di, S.-Q. Lu, and J.-C. Yang, Comput. Phys. Commun. 294, 108957 (2024).
  68. H. Qu and L. Gouskos, Phys. Rev. D 101, 056019 (2020).
  69. P. T. Komiske, E. M. Metodiev, and J. Thaler, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2019) 121.
  70. H. Liang, Y. Zhu, Y. Wang, Y. Che, C. Zhou, H. Qu, and M. Ruan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 221802 (2024).
  71. Y. Zhu, H. Liang, Y. Wang, Y. Che, H. Wang, C. Zhou, H. Qu, and M. Ruan, arXiv:2506.11783.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 113, 115012– Published 5 June, 2026
  • Received 4 December 2025
  • Accepted 13 April 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation