EFFECTS OF NONSTANDARD TRI-LINEAR COUPLINGS IN PHOTON-PHOTON COLLISIONS (I)GAMMA-GAMMA-]W-(W)

The effect of anomalous couplings in gamma gamma --> W+W- is studied f or different energies of the gamma gamma mode of the next linear colli der. The analysis based on the maximum likelihood method exploits the variables in the four-fermion semi-leptonic final state. Polarized dif ferential cross sections based on the complete set of diagrams for the se channels with the inclusion of anomalous couplings are used and com pared to an approximation based on gamma gamma --> W+W- with full spin correlations. To critically compare these results with those obtained in e(+)e(-) we perform an analysis based on the complete calculation of the four-fermion semi-leptonic final state. The anomalous couplings that we consider are derived from the next-to-leading order operators in the non-linear realization of symmetry breaking. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.