Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

David d'Enterria

Publications and source records attributed to David d'Enterria.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2014

LHC data challenges the contemporary parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions

We discuss the inclusive high-pT charged-particle production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The experimental data are compared to the NLO perturbative QCD calculations employing various sets of parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions. Most of the theoretical predictions are found to disastrously overpredict the measured cross sections, even if the scale variations and PDF errors are accounted for. The problem appears to arise from the presently too hard gluon-to-hadron fragmentation functions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Energy evolution of the moments of the hadron distribution in QCD jets including NNLL resummation and NLO running-coupling corrections

The moments of the single inclusive momentum distribution of hadrons in QCD jets, are studied in the next-to-modified-leading-log approximation (NMLLA) including next-to-leading-order (NLO) corrections to the alpha_s strong coupling. The evolution equations are solved using a distorted Gaussian parametrisation, which successfully reproduces the spectrum of charged hadrons of jets measured in e+e- collisions. The energy dependencies of the maximum peak, multiplicity, width, kurtosis and skewness of the jet hadron distribution are computed analytically. Comparisons of all the existing jet data measured in e+e- collisions in the range sqrt(s)~2-200 GeV to the NMLLA+NLO* predictions allow one to extract a value of the QCD parameter Lambda_QCD, and associated two-loop coupling constant at the Z resonance alpha_s(m_Z^2)= 0.1195 +/- 0.0022, in excellent numerical agreement with the current world average obtained using other methods.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Extraction of alpha_s from the energy evolution of jet fragmentation functions at low z

A novel method to extract the QCD coupling alpha_s from the energy evolution of the moments of the parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions at low fractional hadron momentum z, is presented. The evolution of the moments (multiplicity, peak, width, skewness) of the charged-hadron distribution in jets is computed at NMLLA+NLO* accuracy and compared to the experimental deep-inelastic e-p data. Values of the strong coupling constant at the Z pole are obtained, alpha_s(m_Z) = 0.119 +/- 0.010, in excellent numerical agreement with the current world average determined using other methods at the same level of accuracy.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Heavy-ion physics studies for the Future Circular Collider

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) design study is aimed at assessing the physics potential and the technical feasibility of a new collider with centre-of-mass energies, in the hadron-hadron collision mode including proton and nucleus beams, more than seven-times larger than the nominal LHC energies. An electron-positron collider in the same tunnel is also considered as an intermediate step, which would provide the electron-hadron option in the long term. First ideas on the physics opportunities with heavy ions at the FCC are presented, covering the physics of Quark-Gluon Plasma, gluon saturation, photon-induced collisions, as well as connections with ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2014

Confronting current NLO parton fragmentation functions with inclusive charged-particle spectra at hadron colliders

The inclusive spectra of charged particles measured at high transverse momenta ($p_T\gtrsim$2GeV/c) in proton-proton and proton-antiproton collisions in the range of center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}=200-7000$GeV are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations using seven recent sets of parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions (FFs). Accounting for the uncertainties in the scale choices and in the parton distribution functions, we find that most of the theoretical predictions tend to overpredict the measured LHC and Tevatron cross sections by up to a factor of two. We identify the currently too-hard gluon-to-hadron FFs as the probable source of the problem, and justify the need to refit the FFs using the available LHC and Tevatron data in a region of transverse momenta, $p_T\gtrsim$10GeV/c, which is supposedly free from additional non-perturbative contributions and where the scale uncertainty is only modest.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Double-parton scattering cross sections in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC

Simple generic expressions to compute double-parton scattering (DPS) cross sections in high-energy proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions, as a function of the corresponding single-parton cross sections, are presented. Estimates of DPS contributions are studied for two specific processes at LHC energies: (i) same-sign W-boson pair production in p-Pb, and (ii) double-J/psi production in Pb-Pb, using NLO predictions with nuclear parton densities for the corresponding single-parton cross sections. The expected DPS cross sections and event rates after typical acceptance and efficiency losses are also given for other processes involving J/psi and W,Z gauge bosons in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

On the (Gaussian) maximum at a mass m_H~125 GeV of the product of decay probabilities of the Standard Model Higgs boson

The product of the branching ratios of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson in all decay channels available below the top-antitop threshold is observed to be a Gaussian distribution of the Higgs boson mass with a maximum centered at m_H~125 GeV, i.e. exactly at the mass value where a new boson has been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider. Such an intriguing observation is seemingly driven by the different m_H-power dependence of the Higgs decay-widths into gauge bosons and fermions with steep anti-correlated evolutions in the transition region m_H~(m_W,2m_W) below the WW decay threshold. No other SM Higgs mass value has a better combined signal-strength for the whole set of decay channels. Speculative consequences of taking this feature as indicative of an underlying physical principle, that would force the Higgs mass to be that which maximizes its decay probabilities to all the SM particles simultaneously, are also discussed as a means to provide possible constraints for theoretical extensions of the SM.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Impact of LHC Run-1 on particle astrophysics

An overview of the impact of the first three years of LHC operation on two of the most important open questions in astroparticle physics is presented. Measurements in proton-proton collisions at the energy frontier that provide valuable information on the identity of the highest-energy particles in the cosmos as well as new constraints on the nature of dark matter, are summarized.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2013

Enhanced J/Psi-pair production from double parton scatterings in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

A generic expression of double-parton scattering cross sections in high-energy nucleus-nucleus (A-A) collisions is derived as a function of the corresponding single-parton hard cross sections and of the A-A event centrality. We consider the case of prompt-J/psi production in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and find that about 20% (35%) of the J/psi events in minimum-bias (most central) collisions contain a second J/psi from double parton interactions. In Pb-Pb at 5.5 TeV, in the absence of final-state effects, about 240 double-J/psi events are expected per unit midrapidity and per inverse-nanobarn in the dilepton decay modes. The implications of double-J/psi production on the interpretation of the observed J/psi suppression in A-A collisions are discussed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Same-sign WW production in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC as a signal for double parton scattering

The production of same-sign W-boson pairs from double parton scatterings (DPS) in proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is studied. The signal and background cross sections are estimated with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations using nuclear parton distribution functions for the Pb ion. At sqrt(sNN) = 8.8 TeV the cross section for the DPS process is about 150 pb, i.e. 600 times larger than that in proton-proton collisions at the same centre-of-mass energy and 1.5 times higher than the pPb --> WW+2-jets single-parton background. The measurement of such a process, where 10 events with fully leptonic W's decays are expected after cuts in 2 pb^{-1}, would constitute an unambiguous DPS signal and would help determine the effective sigma_eff parameter characterising the transverse distribution of partons in the proton.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Perturbative probes of QCD matter at the Large Hadron Collider

The main results on electroweak probes, jets, high-pT hadrons, heavy-flavour and quarkonia production from the first two years of heavy-ion operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are briefly reviewed. Data measured at center-of-mass energies sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions are compared to proton-proton (p-p) measurements in order to extract information on the properties of hot and dense strongly-interacting matter.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2012

Quantitative constraints on the gluon distribution function in the proton from collider isolated-photon data

The impact of isolated-photon data from proton-(anti)proton collisions at RHIC, SppbarS, Tevatron and LHC energies, on the parton distribution functions of the proton is studied using a recently developed Bayesian reweighting method. The impact on the gluon density of the 35 existing isolated-gamma measurements is quantified using next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations complemented with the NNPDF2.1 parton densities. The NLO predictions are found to describe well most of the datasets from 200 GeV up to 7 TeV centre-of-mass energies. The isolated-photon spectra recently measured at the LHC are precise enough to constrain the gluon distribution and lead to a moderate reduction (up to 20%) of its uncertainties around fractional momenta x~0.02. As a particular case, we show that the improved gluon density reduces the PDF uncertainty for the Higgs boson production cross section in the gluon-fusion channel by more than 20% at the LHC. We conclude that present and future isolated-photon measurements constitute an interesting addition to coming global PDF analyses.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

The strong interaction at the collider and cosmic-rays frontiers

First data on inclusive particle production measured in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are compared to predictions of various hadron-interaction Monte Carlos (QGSJET, EPOS and SIBYLL) used commonly in high-energy cosmic-ray physics. While reasonable overall agreement is found for some of the models, none of them reproduces consistently the sqrt(s) evolution of all the measured observables. We discuss the implications of the new LHC data for the modeling of the non-perturbative and semihard parton dynamics in hadron-hadron and cosmic-rays interactions at the highest energies studied today.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

Constraints from the first LHC data on hadronic event generators for ultra-high energy cosmic-ray physics

The determination of the primary energy and mass of ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECR) generating extensive air-showers in the Earth's atmosphere, relies on the detailed modeling of hadronic multiparticle production at center-of-mass (c.m.) collision energies up to two orders of magnitude higher than those studied at particle colliders. The first Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data have extended by more than a factor of three the c.m. energies in which we have direct proton-proton measurements available to compare to hadronic models. In this work we compare LHC results on inclusive particle production at energies sqrt(s) = 0.9, 2.36, and 7 TeV to predictions of various hadronic Monte Carlo (MC) models used commonly in cosmic-ray (CR) physics (QGSJET, EPOS and SIBYLL). As a benchmark with a standard collider physics model we also show PYTHIA (and PHOJET) predictions with various parameter settings. While reasonable overall agreement is found for some of the MC, none of them reproduces consistently the sqrt(s) evolution of all the observables. We discuss implications of the new LHC data for the description of cosmic-ray interactions at the highest energies.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2011

Physics at the LHC: a short overview

The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) started operation a few months ago. The machine will deliver proton-proton and nucleus-nucleus collisions at energies as high as sqrt(s)=14 TeV and luminosities up to L~10^{34} cm^{-2}s^{-1}, never reached before. The main open scientific questions that the seven LHC experiments -- ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb, TOTEM, LHCf and MOEDAL -- aim to solve in the coming years are succinctly reviewed.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2010

Sensitivity of isolated photon production at TeV hadron colliders to the gluon distribution in the proton

We compare the single inclusive spectra of isolated photons measured at high transverse energy in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions with various parametrizations of the parton distribution functions (PDFs). Within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties, the Tevatron data can be reproduced equally well by the recent CTEQ6.6, MSTW08 and NNPDF1.2 PDF sets. We present also the predictions for isolated gamma spectra in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=14TeV for central (y=0) and forward (y=4) rapidities relevant for LHC experiments. Different proton PDFs result in maximum variations of order 30% in the expected E_T-differential isolated gamma cross sections. The inclusion of the isolated photon data in global PDF fits will place extra independent constraints on the gluon density.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Single-inclusive production of large-pT charged particles in hadronic collisions at TeV energies and perturbative QCD predictions

The single inclusive spectrum of charged particles with transverse momenta pT=3-150 GeV/c measured at midrapidity by the CDF experiment in proton-antiproton (p-pbar) collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV is compared to next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the most recent parametrizations of the parton distributions and parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions. Above pT~20 GeV/c, there is a very sizeable disagreement of the Tevatron data compared to the NLO predictions and to xT-scaling expectations, suggesting a problem in the experimental data. We also present the predictions for the pT-differential charged hadron spectra and the associated theoretical uncertainties for proton-proton (p-p) collisions at LHC energies (sqrt(s)=0.9-14 TeV). Two procedures to estimate the charged hadron spectra at LHC heavy-ion collision energies (sqrt(s)=2.76,5.5 TeV) from p-p measurements are suggested.

hep-ph↗