Various precision determinations of the Fermi constant are compared. Included are muon and (leptonic) tau decays as well as indirect prescriptions employing $\alpha, m_Z, m_W, \ssthwmzms, \Gamma(Z\to\ell^+\ell^-)$, and $\Gamma(Z \to \nu\bar \nu)$ as input. Their good agreement tests the standard model at the $\pm 0.1%$ level and provides stringent constraints on new physics. That utility is illustrated for: heavy neutrino mixing, 2 Higgs doublet models, S, T, and U parameters and excited $W^{ \ast^\pm}$ bosons (Kaluza-Klein excitations). For the last of those examples, $m_{ W^\ast}\gsims 2.9$ TeV is found.
Categories: hep-ph