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A. Signer

Publications and source records attributed to A. Signer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2015

SCET approach to regularization-scheme dependence of QCD amplitudes

We investigate the regularization-scheme dependence of scattering amplitudes in massless QCD and find that the four-dimensional helicity scheme (FDH) and dimensional reduction (DRED) are consistent at least up to NNLO in the perturbative expansion if renormalization is done appropriately. Scheme dependence is shown to be deeply linked to the structure of UV and IR singularities. We use jet and soft functions defined in soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to efficiently extract the relevant anomalous dimensions in the different schemes. This result allows us to construct transition rules for scattering amplitudes between different schemes (CDR, HV, FDH, DRED) up to NNLO in massless QCD. We also show by explicit calculation that the hard, soft and jet functions in SCET are regularization-scheme independent.

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arXiv2015

Computation of $H\to gg$ in FDH and DRED: renormalization, operator mixing, and explicit two-loop results

The $H\to gg$ amplitude relevant for Higgs production via gluon fusion is computed in the four-dimensional helicity scheme (FDH) and in dimensional reduction (DRED) at the two-loop level. The required renormalization is developed and described in detail, including the treatment of evanescent $ε$-scalar contributions. In FDH and DRED there are additional dimension-5 operators generating the $H g g$ vertices, where $g$ can either be a gluon or an $ε$-scalar. An appropriate operator basis is given and the operator mixing through renormalization is described. The results of the present paper provide building blocks for further computations, and they allow to complete the study of the infrared divergence structure of two-loop amplitudes in FDH and DRED.

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arXiv2014

Renormalization-group improved fully differential cross sections for top pair production

We extend approximate next-to-next-to-leading order results for top-pair production to include the semi-leptonic decays of top quarks in the narrow-width approximation. The new hard-scattering kernels are implemented in a fully differential parton-level Monte Carlo that allows for the study of any IR-safe observable constructed from the momenta of the decay products of the top. Our best predictions are given by approximate NNLO corrections in the production matched to a fixed order calculation with NLO corrections in both the production and decay subprocesses. Being fully differential enables us to make comparisons between approximate results derived via different (PIM and 1PI) kinematics for arbitrary distributions. These comparisons reveal that the renormalization-group framework, from which the approximate results are derived, is rather robust in the sense that applying a realistic error estimate allows us to obtain a reliable prediction with a reduced theoretical error for generic observables and analysis cuts.

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arXiv2013

Finite-width effects in unstable-particle production at hadron colliders

We present a general formalism for the calculation of finite-width contributions to the differential production cross sections of unstable particles at hadron colliders. In this formalism, which employs an effective-theory description of unstable-particle production and decay, the matrix element computation is organized as a gauge-invariant expansion in powers of $Γ_X/m_X$, with $Γ_X$ and $m_X$ the width and mass of the unstable particle. This framework allows for a systematic inclusion of off-shell and non-factorizable effects whilst at the same time keeping the computational effort minimal compared to a full calculation in the complex-mass scheme. As a proof-of-concept example, we give results for an NLO calculation of top-antitop production in the $q \bar{q}$ partonic channel. As already found in a similar calculation of single-top production, the finite-width effects are small for the total cross section, as expected from the na\" ive counting $\sim Γ_t/m_t \sim 1%$. However, they can be sizeable, in excess of 10%, close to edges of certain kinematical distributions. The dependence of the results on the mass renormalization scheme, and its implication for a precise extraction of the top-quark mass, is also discussed.

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arXiv2011

Off-shell effects for t-channel and s-channel single-top production at NLO in QCD

In this work we present a calculation of both t-channel and s-channel single-top production at next-to-leading order in QCD for the Tevatron and for the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. All the cross sections and kinematical distributions presented include leading non-factorizable corrections arising from interferences of the production and decay subprocesses, extending previous results beyond the narrow-width approximation. The new off-shell effects are found to be generally small, but can be sizeable close to kinematical end-points and for specific distributions.

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arXiv2004

Towards pair production near threshold with unstable particle effective theory

We illustrate the use of effective theory techniques to describe processes involving unstable particles close to resonance. First, we present the main ideas in the context of a scalar resonance in an Abelian gauge-Yukawa model. We then outline the necessary modifications to describe W-pair production close to threshold in electron-positron collisions.

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arXiv2004

Infrared-Finite Amplitudes for Massless Gauge Theories

We present a method to construct infrared-finite amplitudes for gauge theories with massless fermions. Rather than computing $S$-matrix elements between usual states of the Fock space we construct order-by-order in perturbation theory dressed states that incorporate all long-range interactions. The $S$-matrix elements between these states are shown to be free from soft and collinear singularities. As an explicit example we consider the process $e^+ e^-\to 2$ jets at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling. We verify by explicit calculation that the amplitudes are infrared finite and recover the well-known result for the total cross section $e^+ e^-\to$ hadrons.

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arXiv2004

Effective theory calculation of resonant high-energy scattering

Tests of the standard model and its hypothetical extensions require precise theoretical predictions for processes involving massive, unstable particles. It is well-known that ordinary weak-coupling perturbation theory breaks down due to intermediate singular propagators. Various pragmatic approaches have been developed to deal with this difficulty. In this paper we construct an effective field theory for resonant processes utilizing the hierarchy of scales between the mass of the unstable particle, M, and its width, Gamma. The effective theory allows calculations to be systematically arranged into a series in g^2 and Gamma/M, and preserves gauge invariance in every step. We demonstrate the applicability of this method by calculating explicitly the inclusive line shape of a scalar resonance in an abelian gauge-Yukawa model at next-to-leading order in Gamma/M and the weak couplings. We also discuss the extension to next-to-next-to-leading order and compute an interesting subset of these corrections.

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arXiv2003

Effective theory approach to unstable particle production

Using the hierarchy of scales between the mass, $M$, and the width, $Γ$, of a heavy, unstable particle we construct an effective theory that allows calculations for resonant processes to be systematically expanded in powers of the coupling $α$ and $Γ/M$. We illustrate the method by computing the next-to-leading order line shape of a scalar resonance in an abelian gauge-Yukawa model.

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arXiv2002

Gluon induced contributions to Z gamma production at hadron colliders

We study the contribution of gluon induced partonic subprocesses to Z gamma pair production at hadron colliders. These processes contribute only at next-to-next-to-leading order but are potentially enhanced by two factors of the gluon parton densities. However, we find that their contribution is modest and that next-to-leading order calculations give reliable predictions.

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arXiv2002

Gluon induced contributions to WZ and W gamma production at NNLO

We calculate the contribution of the partonic processes gg->WZ q\bar{q} and gg -> W gamma q\bar{q} to WZ and W gamma pair production at hadron colliders, including anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings. We use the helicity method and include the decay of the W and Z-boson into leptons in the narrow-width approximation. In order to integrate over the q\bar{q} final state phase space we use an extended version of the subtraction method to NNLO and remove collinear singularities explicitly. Due to the large gluon density at low x, the gluon induced terms of vector-boson pair production are expected to be the dominant NNLO QCD correction, relevant at LHC energies. However, we show that due to a cancellation they turn out to provide a rather small contribution, anticipating good stability for the perturbative expansion.

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arXiv2001

Non-factorizable corrections and effective field theories

We analyze the structure of higher-order radiative corrections for processes with unstable particles. By subsequently integrating out the various scales that are induced by the presence of unstable particles we obtain a hierarchy of effective field theories. In the effective field theory framework the separation of physically different effects is achieved naturally. In particular, we automatically obtain a separation of factorizable and non-factorizable corrections to all orders in perturbation theory. At one loop this treatment is equivalent to the double-pole approximation (DPA) but generalizes to higher orders and, at least in principle, to beyond the DPA. It is known that one-loop non-factorizable corrections to invariant mass distributions are suppressed at high energy. We study the mechanism of this suppression and obtain estimates of higher-order non-factorizable corrections at high energy.

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arXiv2000

Anomalous triple and quartic gauge boson couplings

This article reviews some recent developments in the analysis of anomalous triple and quartic vector boson couplings that have been discussed at the UK Phenomenology Workshop on Collider Physics 1999 in Durham.

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arXiv2000

WGamma and ZGamma production at Hadron Colliders

We present a general purpose Monte Carlo program for the calculation of any infrared safe observable in WGamma and ZGamma production at hadron colliders at next-to-leading order in alpha_s. We treat the leptonic decays of the W and Z-boson in the narrow-width approximation, but retain all spin information via decay angle correlations. The effect of anomalous triple gauge boson couplings is investigated and we give the analytical expressions for the corresponding amplitudes. Furthermore, we propose a way to study the effect of anomalous couplings without introducing the ambiguity of form factors.

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arXiv2000

Top-Antitop Pair Production close to Threshold: Synopsis of recent NNLO Results

Using non-relativistic effective theories, new next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the total $t\bar t$ production cross section at the Linear Collider have been calculated recently. In this article the NNLO calculations of several groups are compared and the remaining uncertainties are discussed. The theoretical prospects for an accurate determination of top quark mass parameters are discussed in detail. An outlook on possible future improvements is given.

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arXiv1999

The bottom $\bar{\rm MS}$ quark mass from sum rules at next-to-next-to-leading order

We determine the bottom $\bar{\rm MS}$ quark mass $\bar{m}_b$ and the quark mass in the potential subtraction scheme from moments of the $b\bar{b}$ production cross section and from the mass of the Upsilon 1S state at next-to-next-to-leading order in a reorganized perturbative expansion that sums Coulomb exchange to all orders. We find $\bar{m}_b(\bar{m}_b)=(4.25\pm 0.08) $GeV and $m_{b,\rm PS}(2 {GeV})=(4.59\pm 0.08) $GeV for the potential-subtracted mass at the scale 2 GeV, adopting a conservative error estimate.

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arXiv1999

Vector Boson Pair Production in Hadronic Collisions at Order $α_s$: Lepton Correlations and Anomalous Couplings

We present cross sections for production of electroweak vector boson pairs, $WW$, $WZ$ and $ZZ$, in $p\bar{p}$ and $pp$ collisions, at next-to-leading order in $α_s$. We treat the leptonic decays of the bosons in the narrow-width approximation, but retain all spin information via decay angle correlations. We also include the effects of $WWZ$ and $WWγ$ anomalous couplings.

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