Possible futures of electroweak precision: ILC, FCC-ee, and CEPC

The future of high-precision electroweak physics lies in e⁺e⁻ collider measurements of properties of the Z boson, the W boson, the Higgs boson, and the top quark. We estimate the expected performance of three possible future colliders: the ILC, FCC-ee (formerly known as TLEP), and CEPC. In particular, we present the first estimates of the possible reach of CEPC, China's proposed Circular Electron-Positron Collider, for the oblique parameters S and T and for seven-parameter fits of Higgs couplings. These results allow the physics potential for CEPC to be compared with that of the ILC and FCC-ee. We also show how the constraints on S and T would evolve as the uncertainties on each of the most important input measurements change separately. This clarifies the basic physics goals for future colliders. To improve on the current precision, the highest priorities are improving the uncertainties on m_W and sin² θ_eff. At the same time, improved measurements of the top mass, the Z mass, the running of α, and the Z width will offer further improvement which will determine the ultimate reach. Each of the possible future colliders we consider has strong prospects for probing TeV-scale electroweak physics.