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Abstract

We consider the anomalous magnetic moment of the W boson, ĸ, from an experimental and from a theoretical point of view. In the first chapter,we consider five experiments where this parameter could in principle be measured. Our results show that the W pair-production remains the best process to measure ĸ. Single W production is very sensitive to ĸ, but it is plagued by very small cross-sections. Photon-electron colliders can also be valuable for measuring ĸ through single W production. In the second chapter, we consider a composite model where ĸ is essentially free. We found that it is impossible to rule out such a model from a single measurement of ĸ. We give detailed production rates for these processes. In the second half of the thesis, we set limits on the corrections to ĸ at the one loop level; first in the minimal SM and then in a two-Higgs-doublet model. The main results are that measured corrections of 0.1 would clearly indicate non-perturbative physics while the minimal SM can accommodate corrections up to 0.02. Possible extensions of the SM cannot increase this figure by much: unless one is willing to introduce several extra weakly interacting families, it remains that 75%, or more, of the corrections will arise from the minimal SM.