Accurate prediction of the $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ distribution for the forward Z boson production in pp collisions through NNLO+N$^{3}$LL

Abstract

This paper presents a phenomenological study for the differential cross section of the forward Z boson production in leptonic decay channels as a function of the angular variable $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ in proton-proton collisions. The $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ distribution is predicted for the forward pseudorapidity region $2.0 < \eta_{l} < 4.5$ of the decay leptons at center-of-mass energies 8, 13, and 14 TeV. Accurate prediction of the $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ distribution is achieved by means of the state-of-the-art calculations including fixed-order perturbative QCD and large logarithmic corrections. The predicted distributions are obtained by employing the resummation either at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) or next-to-NNLL (N$^{3}$LL) accuracy which is matched to the perturbative QCD calculation at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) accuracy, that is at NNLO+NNLL and NNLO+N$^{3}$LL, respectively. The Z boson $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ variable is experimentally preferable as it has been measured more precisely than the Z boson transverse momentum though both variables probe the same physics, thereby an accurate description of the $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ variable is required by using theoretical predictions at both NNLO+NNLL and NNLO+N$^{3}$LL accuracies. The matched predictions are compared with the available 8 TeV and 13 TeV measurements by the LHCb experiment at the LHC and found to be in good agreement. The 14 TeV predicted distributions at both NNLO+NNLL and NNLO+N$^{3}$LL are also reported. In all the predicted results, the NNLO+N$^{3}$LL provides more improved accuracy for the reliable description of the $\phi^{*}_{\eta}$ distribution throughout its entire phase space region.