Conformal Colliders Meet the LHC

Abstract

The remarkably high energies of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have allowed for the first measurements of the shapes and scalings of multi-point correlators of energy flow operators, $\langle \Psi | \mathcal{E}(\vec n_1) \mathcal{E}(\vec n_2) \cdots \mathcal{E}(\vec n_k) |\Psi \rangle$, providing new insights into the Lorentzian dynamics of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this Letter, we use recent advances in effective field theory to derive a rigorous factorization theorem for the light-ray density matrix, $\rho= |\Psi\rangle \langle \Psi |$, inside high transverse momentum jets at the LHC. Using the light-ray operator product expansion, the scaling behavior of multi-point correlators can be computed from the expectation value of the twist-2 spin-$J$ light-ray operators, $\mathbb{O}^{[J]}$, in this state, $\text{Tr}[ \rho ~\mathbb{O}^{[J]} ]$. We compute the light-ray density matrix at next-to-leading order, and combine this with results for the next-to-leading logarithmic scaling behavior of the correlators up to six-points, comparing with CMS Open Data. This theoretical accuracy allows us to resolve the quantum scaling dimensions of QCD light-ray operators inside jets at the LHC. Our factorization theorem for the light-ray density matrix at the LHC completes the link between recent developments in the study of energy correlators and LHC phenomenology, opening the door to a wide variety of precision jet substructure studies.