arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Eric Laenen.
We calculate total and differential production rates of D* mesons in two-photon collisions at LEP2. We include full next-to-leading order QCD corrections, and perform an extensive study of the sensitivity of our predictions to variations of the renormalization scale, charm mass, photonic parton distribution set and fragmentation function. The results are compared with recent data from LEP2.
We extend the phase space slicing method of Giele, Glover and Kosower for performing next-to-leading order jet cross section calculations in two important ways: we show how to include fragmentation functions and how to include massive particles. These extensions allow the application of this method to not just jet cross sections but also to cross sections in which a particular final state particle, including a $D$ or $B$-meson, is tagged.
We present the threshold resummation for the cross section for electroproduction of heavy quarks. We work to next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, and in single-particle inclusive kinematics. We provide next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading order expansions of our resummed formula, and examine numerically the quality of these finite order approximations. For the case of charm we study their impact on the structure function $F_2$ and its differential distribution with respect to the charm transverse momentum.
We discuss the resummation of Sudakov effects in a cross section from the viewpoint of its underlying factorization near the edge of phase space. We perform the resummation of Sudakov threshold logarithms in Higgs (Standard Model and Minimal Supersymmetric SM) production at the LHC, using an evolution equation in the Higgs mass that is derived from this factorization. We extend the class of universal large terms that is resummed to include additional universal contributions, which, when included, help to reproduce the exact result to within a few percent for the full allowed range of Higgs boson masses in the SM and MSSM. Using the analytic resummed formula as a generating functional for approximate perturbation theory, we show results for next-to-next-to-leading order corrections in Higgs production, and find they are potentially sizable.
We examine the contributions of soft gluons to the Higgs production cross section at the LHC in the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension. The soft gluon radiation effects of this reaction share many features with the Drell-Yan process, but arise at lowest order from a purely gluonic initial state. We provide an extension of the conventional soft gluon resummation formalism to include a new class of contributions which we argue to be universal, and resum these and the usual Sudakov effects to all orders. The effect of these new terms is striking: only if they are included, does the expansion of the resummed cross section to next-to-leading order reproduce the exact result to within a few percent for the full range of Higgs boson masses. We use our resummed cross section to derive next-to-next-to-leading order results, and their scale dependence. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of including the novel contributions in the resummed Drell-Yan process.
We extend the phase space slicing method to allow for heavy quarks and fragmentation functions. The method can be used to calculate differential cross section in which any particular particle (massive or massless) is tagged.
We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of a $W$-boson in association with a jet containing a heavy quark. The calculation is fully differential in the final state particle momenta and includes the mass of the heavy quark. We study for the case of the Tevatron the sensitivity of the cross section to the strange quark distribution function, the dependence of the cross section on the heavy quark mass, the transverse momentum distribution of the jet containing the heavy quark, and the momentum distribution of the heavy quark in the jet.
We present a unified derivation of the resummation of Sudakov logarithms, directly from the factorization properties of cross sections in which they occur. We rederive in this manner the well-known exponentiation of leading and nonleading logarithmic enhancements near the edge of phase space for cross sections such as deeply inelastic scattering, which are induced by an electroweak hard scattering. For QCD hard-scattering processes, such as heavy-quark production, we show that the resummation of nonleading logarithms requires in general mixing in the space of the color tensors of the hard scattering. The exponentiation of Sudakov logarithms implies that many weighted cross sections obey particular evolution equations in momentum transfer, which streamline the computation of their Sudakov exponents. We illustrate this method with the resummation of soft-gluon enhancements of the inclusive Drell-Yan cross section, in both DIS and $\overline{\rm MS}$ factorization schemes.
Open heavy flavour production at $e^+e^-$ colliders in deeply inelastic $eγ$ scattering has an interesting feature: the structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$ for this process is calculable for $x>0.01$, and is essentially proportional to the gluon density in the photon for smaller $x$ values. We give estimates for event rates at LEP2 and a Next Linear Collider in $x,Q^2$ bins, and present differential distributions in the transverse momentum and rapidity of the heavy quark for the case of charm. We include all next-to-leading-order QCD corrections, and find theoretical uncertainties are well under control.
The next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of a $W$-boson in association with a jet containing a heavy quark are presented. The calculation is fully differential in the final state particle momenta and includes the mass of the heavy quark. We study for the case of the Tevatron the sensitivity of the cross section to the strange quark distribution function, the dependence of the cross section on the heavy quark mass, the transverse momentum distribution of the jet containing the heavy quark, and the momentum distribution of the heavy quark in the jet.
In two-photon collisions at LEP2 and a future $e^+e^-$ linear collider heavy quarks (mainly charm) will be pair-produced rather copiously. The production via direct and resolved photons can be distinguished experimentally via a remnant-jet tag. We study correlations of the heavy quarks at next-to-leading order in QCD in the direct channel, which is free from phenomenological parton densities in the photon. These correlations are therefore directly calculable in perturbative QCD and provide a stringent test of the production mechanism.