Resolving Local Structure of Distribution Functions in Collider Measurements

Abstract

Collider measurements may blur narrow features in underlying distributions before fitting, since a data point samples a finite region. We show that observables linear in a selected target distribution, after externally constrained inputs are absorbed into a nonnegative finite response, have a calculable distribution-space locality set by hard dynamics and kinematics. The baseline-normalized $F_{\rm dir}(X)$ yields the local value at zero width and a controlled average otherwise, with covariance setting the leading bias. This guides the choice of processes and observables that retain unexpected fine structure. An EIC photon-radiation observable realizes the exact zero-width limit.