Low energy physics and left-right symmetry: bounds on the model parameters

In any gauge model with spontaneous symmetry breakdown the gauge boson mass es and their mixings are not independent quantities. They are interconnecte d through the vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of the Higgs sector. We disc uss the low-energy experiments, namely electron-hadron, neutrino-hadron and neutrino-electron processes in the frame of the manifest left-right symmet ric model and show the impact of these dependencies on the possible heavy g auge boson masses and mixings. At 90% C.L., we obtain M-Z2 greater than or equal to 1475 GeV for phenomenologically favorable models, without W-L - W- R mixing and M-Z2 greater than or equal to 1205 GeV in the other extreme ca se when a maximal mixing is possible. If we consider the left-right symmetr ic model parameters without any constraints from the Higgs sector these lim its get down to 410 GeV. Bounds on the Z(2) mixing angle as well as the W-2 mass and its mixing angle are also given. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.