Electroweak two-loop corrections to the Mw-Mz mass correlation in the Standard Model

Recently exact results for the complete fermionic two-loop contributions to the prediction for the W-boson mass from muon decay in the electroweak Standard Model have been published [Phys. Lett. B 495 (2000) 338; Nucl. Phys. (Proc. Suppl.) 89 (2000) 82]. This paper illustrates the techniques that have been applied for this calculation, in particular, the renormalisation procedure and the treatment of IR-divergent QED contributions. Numerical results are presented in terms of simple parametrisation formulae and compared in detail with a previous result of an expansion up to next-to-leading order in the top-quark mass. An estimate of the remaining theoretical uncertainties of the M-W-prediction from unknown higher-order corrections is given. For the bosonic two-loop corrections a partial result is presented, yielding the Higgs-mass dependence of these contributions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.