arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E. W. N. Glover.
We report the calculation of next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections in the purely gluonic channel to dijet production and related observables at hadron colliders. Our result represents the first NNLO calculation of a massless jet observable at hadron colliders, and opens the path towards precision QCD phenomenology with the LHC.
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the double virtual infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. In previous papers, we derived the subtraction terms that rendered (a) the double real radiation tree-level process finite in the single and double unresolved regions of phase space and (b) the mixed single real radiation one-loop process both finite and well behaved in the unresolved regions of phase space. Here, we show how to construct the double virtual subtraction term using antenna functions with both initial- and final-state partons which remove the explicit infrared poles present in the two-loop amplitude. As an explicit example, we write down the subtraction term for the four-gluon two-loop process. The infrared poles are explicitly and locally cancelled in all regions of phase space leaving a finite remainder that can be safely evaluated numerically in four-dimensions.
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the double real radiation infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. The antenna subtraction framework has been successfully applied to the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. Here we consider processes with two coloured particles in the initial state, and in particular two-jet production at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We construct a subtraction term that describes the single and double unresolved contributions from the six-gluon tree-level process using antenna functions with initial state partons and show numerically that the subtraction term correctly approximates the matrix elements in the various single and double unresolved configurations.
Many search strategies for the Standard Model Higgs boson apply specific selection criteria on hadronic jets observed in association with the Higgs boson decay products, either in the form of a jet veto, or by defining event samples according to jet multiplicity. To improve the theoretical description of Higgs-boson-plus-jet production (and the closely related Higgs boson transverse momentum distribution), we derive the two-loop QCD corrections to the helicity amplitudes for the processes $H \to ggg$ and $H\to q \bar q g$ in an effective theory with infinite top quark mass. The helicity amplitudes are extracted from the coefficients appearing in the general tensorial structure for each process. The coefficients are derived from the Feynman graph amplitudes by means of projectors within the conventional dimensional regularization scheme. The infrared pole structure of our result agrees with the expectation from infrared factorization and the finite parts of the amplitudes are expressed in terms of one- and two-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms.
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the mixed real-virtual infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. In a previous paper, we derived the subtraction term that rendered the double real radiation tree-level process finite in the single and double unresolved regions of phase space. Here, we show how to construct the real-virtual subtraction term using antenna functions with both initial- and final-state partons which removes the explicit infrared poles present in the one-loop amplitude, as well as the implicit singularities that occur in the soft and collinear limits. As an explicit example, we write down the subtraction term that describes the single unresolved contributions from the five-gluon one-loop process. The infrared poles are explicitly and locally cancelled in all regions of phase space prior to integration, leaving a finite remainder that can be safely evaluated numerically in four-dimensions. We show numerically that the subtraction term correctly approximates the matrix elements in the various single unresolved configurations.
We give explicit formulae for the O(eps) and O(eps^2) contributions to the unrenormalised three loop QCD corrections to quark and gluon form factors. These contributions have at most transcendentality weight eight. The O(eps) terms of the three-loop form factors are required for the extraction of the four-loop quark and gluon collinear anomalous dimensions. The O(eps^2) terms represent an irreducible contribution to the finite part of the form factors at four-loops. For the sake of completeness, we also give the contributions to the one and two loop form factors to the same transcendentality weight eight.
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the double real radiation infrared singularities present in the six-gluon tree-level process at next-to-next-to-leading order. We show numerically that the subtraction term correctly approximates the matrix elements in the various single and double unresolved configurations.
This report summarizes the activities of the SM and NLO Multileg Working Group of the Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, France 8-26 June, 2009.
We present the first determination of the strong coupling constant from the three-jet rate in e+e- annihilation at LEP, based on a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) perturbative QCD prediction. More precisely, we extract alpha_s by fitting perturbative QCD predictions at O(alpha_s^3) to data from the ALEPH experiment at LEP. Over a large range of the jet-resolution parameter ycut this observable is characterised by small non-perturbative corrections and an excellent stability under renormalisation scale variation. For the three-jet rate at ln(ycut) = -3.9 we find alpha_s(MZ) = 0.1175 +/- 0.0020(exp) \+/- 0.0015(theo), which is among the most precise determinations from jet observables at LEP.
In this talk we describe a procedure for isolating the infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. We use the antenna subtraction framework which has been successfully applied to the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. Here we consider processes with coloured particles in the initial state, and in particular two-jet production at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We construct a subtraction term that describes the single and double unresolved contributions from gluonic processes using antenna functions with initial state partons and show numerically that the subtraction term correctly approximates the matrix elements in the various single and double unresolved configurations.
We consider the high-energy limits of the colour ordered four-, five- and six-gluon MHV amplitudes of the maximally supersymmetric QCD in the multi-Regge kinematics where all the gluons are strongly ordered in rapidity. We show that various building blocks occurring in the Regge factorisation (the Regge trajectory, the coefficient functions and the Lipatov vertex) satisfy an iterative structure very similar to the Bern-Dixon-Smirnov (BDS) ansatz. This iterative structure, combined with the universality of the building blocks, enables us to show that in the Euclidean region any two- and three-loop amplitude in multi-Regge kinematics is guaranteed to satisfy the BDS ansatz. We also consider slightly more general kinematics where the strong rapidity ordering applies to all the gluons except the two with either the largest or smallest rapidities, and we derive the iterative formula for the associated coefficient function. We show that in this kinematic limit the BDS ansatz is also satisfied. Finally, we argue that only for more general kinematics - e.g. with three gluons having similar rapidities, or where the two central gluons have similar rapidities - can a disagreement with the BDS ansatz arise.
We present a determination of the strong coupling constant from a fit of QCD predictions for six event-shape variables, calculated at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and matched to resummation in the next-to-leading-logarithmic approximation (NLLA). These event shapes have been measured in e+e- annihilations at LEP, where the data we use have been collected by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies between 91 and 206 GeV. Compared to purely fixed order NNLO fits, we observe that the central fit values are hardly affected, but the systematic uncertainty is larger because the NLLA part re-introduces relatively large uncertainties from scale variations. By combining the results for six event-shape variables and eight centre-of-mass energies, we find alpha_s(MZ)= 0.1224 +/- 0.0009 (stat) +/- 0.0009 (exp) +/- 0.0012 (had) +/- 0.0035 (theo), which improves previously published measurements at NLO+NLLA. We also carry out a detailed investigation of hadronisation corrections, using a large set of Monte Carlo generator predictions.
We derive the two-loop QCD helicity amplitudes for the processes $l q \to l qg$ ($l \bar q \to l \bar q g$) and $l g \to l q\bar q$, which are the partonic reactions yielding $(2+1)$-jet final states in deep inelastic lepton nucleon scattering. The amplitudes are obtained by analytic continuation of the known helicity amplitudes for $e^+e^- \to q\bar q g$. We separate the infrared divergent and finite parts of the amplitudes using Catani's infrared factorization formula. The analytic results for the finite parts of the amplitudes are expressed in terms of one- and two-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms. To evaluate these functions numerically, we list in detail the non-trivial (and kinematic region dependent) variable transformations one needs to perform.
We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the first five moments of six event shape variables related to three-particle final states in electron-positron annihilation; the thrust, the heavy jet mass, the C-parameter, the wide and total jet broadenings and the three-to-two-jet transition parameter in the Durham algorithm Y3. The NNLO corrections to the first moment are moderate for all event shapes, while the renormalisation scale dependence of the theoretical prediction is substantially reduced compared to the previously existing NLO results. From a comparison with data from JADE and OPAL, we observe that the energy dependence of the moments of the wide jet broadening and Y3 can be largely explained without any non-perturbative power corrections, while the other observables exhibit a clear need for power-like contributions at low centre-of-mass energy.
We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the six most important event shape variables related to three-particle final states in electron-positron annihilation. The corrections are sizeable for all variables, however their magnitude is substantially different for different observables. We observe that the NNLO corrections yield a considerably better agreement between theory and experimental data both in shape and normalisation of the event shape distributions. The renormalisation scale dependence of the theoretical prediction is substantially reduced compared to the previously existing NLO results. Our results will allow a precise determination of the strong coupling constant from event shape data collected at LEP.
We describe the calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to three-jet production and related event shape observables in electron-positron annihilation. Infrared singularities due to double real radiation at tree level and single real radiation at one loop are subtracted from the full QCD matrix elements using antenna functions, which are then integrated analytically and added to the two loop contribution. Using this antenna subtraction method, we obtain numerically finite contributions from five-parton and four-parton processes, and observe an explicit analytic cancellation of infrared poles in the four-parton and three-parton contributions. All contributions are implemented in a flexible parton-level event generator programme, allowing the numerical computation of any infrared-safe observable related to three-jet final states to NNLO accuracy.
We consider a Higgs boson coupled to gluons via the five-dimensional effective operator H tr G_{μν}G^{μν}. We treat H as the real part of a complex field phi that couples to the selfdual gluon field strengths and compute the one-loop corrections to the phi-MHV amplitudes involving phi, two negative helicity gluons and an arbitrary number of positive helicity gluons. Our results generalise earlier work where the two negative helicity gluons were constrained to be colour adjacent. We use four-dimensional unitarity to construct the cut-containing contributions and the recently developed recursion relations to obtain the rational contribution for an arbitrary number of external gluons. We solve the recursion relations and give explicit results for up to four external gluons. These amplitudes are relevant for Higgs plus jet production via gluon fusion in the limit where the top quark mass is large compared to all other scales in the problem.
We report on the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. The corrections are sizable for all variables, however the magnitude of the corrections is substantially different for different observables. We observe that inclusion of the NNLO corrections yields a considerably better agreement between theory and experimental data both in shape and normalization of the event shape distributions in the region where the perturbative result is expected to hold. A new extraction of $α_{s}$ using the event shape variables up to NNLO yields a considerably better consistency between the observables indicating a stabilization of the perturbative corrections at this order.