Third-generation leptoquark decays and collider searches

Collider searches for first-, second-, and third-generation scalar (S) or vector (V) leptoquarks (LQs) focus on the quark-lepton decay modes S,V → q l. For SU(2)-doublet and -triplet leptoquarks with a sufficiently large splitting between the components, decays involving real W-boson emission (such as S^{(+ 5/3)}₂ → S^{(+ 2/3)}₂ W⁺ and others) become possible and can change the patterns of leptoquark decays. For third-generation leptoquarks, where these mass splittings might be large, such modes could dominate certain leptoquark decays as they are (if kinematically allowed) guaranteed to be of order g² where g is the electroweak coupling. We calculate the decay rates for all such processes involving SU(2)-doublet and triplet, scalar and vector leptoquarks. Standard limits on mass splittings from precision electroweak measurements imply that only such decays involving SU(2)-doublet scalar LQs are likely kinematically possible.