arXiv subjects

Fabrizio Caola

Publications and source records attributed to Fabrizio Caola.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Analytic results for heavy-quark contributions to charged-current DIS at NNLO

We present analytic results for the next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD corrections to heavy-quark production in charged-current deep-inelastic scattering, retaining the exact dependence on the charm quark mass. We compute the complete partonic coefficient functions for the structure functions $F_2$, $F_L$, and $F_3$ in the quark and gluon channels, including contributions with up to three heavy quarks in the final state. Working within the reverse-unitarity framework, we use integration-by-parts and canonical differential-equations techniques to express all contributions with at most two final-state heavy quarks in terms of manifestly real Goncharov polylogarithms which allow for a robust and efficient numerical evaluation. The three-heavy-quark contribution involves elliptic structures for which we give a general representation in terms of Chen iterated integrals, as well as expressions in terms of rapidly convergent expansions that are valid in the perturbative $Q\gtrsim 5~{\rm GeV}$ region and also allow for a flexible and fast numerical evaluation. We validate our results against known exact results at lower orders, massless NNLO coefficient functions, and existing leading-power expansions in the asymptotic limit where the virtuality $Q$ is much larger than the charm mass.

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arXiv2025

Investigating the universality of five-point QCD scattering amplitudes at high energy

We investigate $2 \to 3$ QCD scattering amplitudes in multi-Regge kinematics, i.e. where the final partons are strongly ordered in rapidity. In this regime amplitudes exhibit intriguing factorisation properties which can be understood in terms of effective degrees of freedom called \emph{reggeons}. Working within the Balitsky/JIMWLK framework, we predict these amplitudes for the first time to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order, and compare against the limit of QCD scattering amplitudes in full colour and kinematics. We find that the latter can be described in terms of universal objects, and that the apparent non-universality arising at NNLL comes from well-defined and under-control contributions that we can predict. Thanks to this observation, we extract for the first time the universal vertex that controls the emission of the central-rapidity gluon, both in QCD and $N = 4$ super Yang-Mills.

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arXiv2024

Three-loop helicity amplitudes for four-quark scattering in massless QCD

We compute the three-loop corrections to the helicity amplitudes for $q\bar{q}\to Q\bar{Q}$ scattering in massless QCD. In the Lorentz decomposition of the scattering amplitude we avoid evanescent Lorentz structures and map the corresponding form factors directly to the physical helicity amplitudes. We reduce the amplitudes to master integrals and express them in terms of harmonic polylogarithms. The renormalised amplitudes exhibit infrared divergences of dipole and quadrupole type, as predicted by previous work on the infrared structure of multileg scattering amplitudes. We derive the finite remainders and present explicit results for all relevant partonic channels, both for equal and different quark flavours.

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arXiv2023

Two-loop mixed QCD-electroweak amplitudes for $Z+$jet production at the LHC: bosonic corrections

We present a calculation of the bosonic contribution to the two-loop mixed QCD-electroweak scattering amplitudes for $Z$-boson production in association with one hard jet at hadron colliders. We employ a method to calculate amplitudes in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme that reduces the amount of spurious non-physical information needed at intermediate stages of the computation, to keep the complexity of the calculation under control. We compute all the relevant Feynman integrals numerically using the Auxiliary Mass Flow method. We evaluate the two-loop scattering amplitudes on a two-dimensional grid in the rapidity and transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson, which has been designed to yield a reliable numerical sampling of the boosted-$Z$ region. This result provides an important building block for improving the theoretical modelling of a key background for monojet searches at the LHC.

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arXiv2023

Three-loop gluon scattering in QCD and the gluon Regge trajectory

We compute the three-loop helicity amplitudes for the scattering of four gluons in QCD. We employ projectors in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme and construct the amplitudes from a minimal set of physical building blocks, which allows us to keep the computational complexity under control. We obtain relatively compact results that can be expressed in terms of harmonic polylogarithms. In addition, we consider the Regge limit of our amplitude and extract the gluon Regge trajectory in full three-loop QCD. This is the last missing ingredient required for studying single-Reggeon exchanges at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy.

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arXiv2023

Flavoured jets with exact anti-$k_t$ kinematics and tests of infrared and collinear safety

We propose extensions of the anti-$k_t$ and Cambridge/Aachen hierarchical jet clustering algorithms that are designed to retain the exact jet kinematics of these algorithms, while providing an infrared-and-collinear-safe definition of jet flavour at any fixed order in perturbation theory. Central to our approach is a new technique called Interleaved Flavour Neutralisation (IFN), whereby the treatment of flavour is integrated with, but distinct from, the kinematic clustering. IFN allows flavour information to be meaningfully accessed at each stage of the clustering sequence, which enables a consistent assignment of flavour both to individual jets and to their substructure. We validate the IFN approach using a dedicated framework for fixed-order tests of infrared and collinear safety, which also reveals unanticipated issues in earlier approaches to flavoured jet clustering. We briefly explore the phenomenological impact of IFN with anti-$k_t$ jets for benchmark tasks at the Large Hadron Collider.

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arXiv2022

Theory Techniques for Precision Physics -- Snowmass 2021 TF06 Topical Group Report

The wealth of experimental data collected at laboratory experiments suggests that there is some scale separation between the Standard Model (SM) and phenomena beyond the SM (BSM). New phenomena can manifest itself as small corrections to SM predictions, or as signals in processes where the SM predictions vanish or are exceedingly small. This makes precise calculations of the SM expectations essential, in order to maximize the sensitivity of current and forthcoming experiments to BSM physics. This topical group report highlights some past and forthcoming theory developments critical for maximizing the sensitivity of the experimental program to understanding Nature at the shortest distances.

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arXiv2022

Signal-background interference effects in Higgs-mediated diphoton production beyond NLO

In this paper we consider signal-background interference effects in Higgs-mediated diphoton production at the LHC. After reviewing earlier works that show how to use these effects to constrain the Higgs boson total decay width, we provide predictions beyond NLO accuracy for the interference and related observables, and study the impact of QCD radiative corrections on the Higgs width determination. In particular, we use the so-called soft-virtual approximation to estimate interference effects at NNLO in QCD. The inclusion of these effects reduce the NNLO prediction for the total Higgs cross-section in the diphoton channel by about 1.7%. We study in detail the impact of QCD corrections on the Higgs-boson line-shape and its implications for the Higgs width extraction. Assuming an experimental resolution of about 150~MeV on interference-induced modifications of the Higgs-boson line-shape, our NNLO analysis shows that one could constrain the Higgs-boson total width to about 10-20 times its Standard Model value.

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arXiv2022

Linear power corrections to $e^+e^-$ shape variables in the three-jet region

We use an abelian model to study linear power corrections which arise from infrared renormalons and affect event shapes in $e^+e^-$ annihilation into hadrons. While previous studies explored power corrections in the two-jet region, in this paper we focus on the three-jet region, which is the most relevant one for the determination of the strong coupling constant. We show that for a broad class of shape variables, linear power corrections can be written in a factorised form, that involves an analytically-calculable function, that characterises changes in the shape variable when a soft parton is emitted, and a constant universal factor. This universal factor is proportional to the so-called Milan factor, introduced in earlier literature to describe linear power corrections in the two-jet region. We find that the power corrections in the two-jet and in the three-jet regions are different, a result which is bound to have important consequences for the determination of the strong coupling constant from event shapes. As a further illustration of the power of the approach developed in this paper, we provide explicit analytic expressions for the leading power corrections to the $C$-parameter and the thrust distributions in the $N$-jet region for arbitrary $N$, albeit in the abelian model.

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arXiv2022

Three-loop helicity amplitudes for quark-gluon scattering in QCD

We compute the three-loop helicity amplitudes for $q\bar{q} \to gg$ and its crossed partonic channels, in massless QCD. Our analytical results provide a non-trivial check of the color quadrupole contribution to the infrared poles for external states in different color representations. At high energies, the $qg \to qg$ amplitude shows the predicted factorized form from Regge theory and confirms previous results for the gluon Regge trajectory extracted from $qq' \to qq'$ and $gg \to gg$ scattering.

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arXiv2022

Anomalous Higgs boson couplings in weak boson fusion production at NNLO in QCD

The production of Higgs bosons in weak boson fusion has the second largest cross section among Higgs-production processes at the LHC. As such, this process plays an important role in detailed studies of Higgs interactions with vector bosons. In this paper we extend the available description of Higgs boson production in weak boson fusion by considering anomalous $HVV$ interactions and NNLO QCD radiative corrections at the same time. We find that, while leading order QCD predictions are too uncertain to allow for detailed studies of the anomalous couplings, NLO QCD results are sufficiently precise, most of the time. The NNLO QCD corrections alter the NLO QCD predictions only marginally, but their availability enhances the credibility of conclusions based on NLO QCD computations.

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arXiv2022

On linear power corrections in certain collider observables

We study linear power corrections ${\cal O}(Λ_{\rm QCD}/Q)$ to certain collider observables. We present arguments that prove that such corrections cannot appear in observables that are inclusive with respect to QCD radiation, such as total cross sections as well as rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of color-neutral particles. Although our calculations are carried out in a simplified framework, our arguments and conclusions are applicable, with some reservations, to processes both at lepton and hadron colliders. We also show how an improved understanding of the origin of linear power corrections allows us to simplify their calculation. As an application, we compute the leading non-perturbative corrections to the $C$-parameter and the thrust in $e^+e^-$ annihilation in a generic three-jet configuration.

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arXiv2022

Three-loop helicity amplitudes for diphoton production in gluon fusion

We present a calculation of the helicity amplitudes for the process $gg\toγγ$ in three-loop massless QCD. We employ a recently proposed method to calculate scattering amplitudes in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme that reduces the amount of spurious non-physical information needed at intermediate stages of the computation. Our analytic results for the three-loop helicity amplitudes are remarkably compact, and can be efficiently evaluated numerically. This calculation provides the last missing building block for the computation of NNLO QCD corrections to diphoton production in gluon fusion.

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arXiv2022

Mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to dilepton production at the LHC in the high invariant mass region

We compute mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to the neutral-current Drell-Yan production of a pair of massless leptons in the high invariant mass region. Our computation is fully differential with respect to the final state particles. At relatively low values of the dilepton invariant mass, $m_{\ell \ell} \sim 200$ GeV, we find unexpectedly large mixed QCD-electroweak corrections at the level of -1%. At higher invariant masses, $m_{\ell \ell} \sim 1$ TeV, we observe that these corrections can be well approximated by the product of QCD and electroweak corrections. Hence, thanks to the well-known Sudakov enhancement of the latter, they increase at large invariant mass and reach e.g. -3% at $m_{\ell \ell} = 3$ TeV. Finally, we note that the inclusion of mixed corrections reduces the theoretical uncertainty related to the choice of electroweak input parameters to below the percent level.

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arXiv2022

The Path forward to N$^3$LO

The LHC experiments will achieve percent level precision measurements of processes key to some of the most pressing questions of contemporary particle physics: What is the nature of the Higgs boson? Can we successfully describe the interaction of fundamental particles at high energies? Is there physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC? The capability to predict and describe such observables at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^3$LO) in QCD perturbation theory is paramount to fully exploit these experimental measurements. We describe the current status of N$^3$LO predictions and highlight their importance in the upcoming precision phase of the LHC. Furthermore, we identify key conceptual and mathematical developments necessary to see wide-spread N$^3$LO phenomenology come to fruition.

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arXiv2021

NNLO QCD corrections to weak boson fusion Higgs boson production in the $H \to b\bar b$ and $H \to WW^* \to 4l$ decay channels

We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs boson production in weak boson fusion followed by its decay to a $b\bar b$ pair or to a pair of leptonically-decaying $W$ bosons. Our calculation allows us to compute realistic fiducial cross sections and assess the impact of fiducial cuts applied to the Higgs boson decay products on the magnitude of QCD radiative corrections in weak boson fusion.

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arXiv2021

Anomalous couplings in associated $VH$ production with Higgs decay to massive $b$ quarks at NNLO in QCD

We combine the NNLO QCD description of Higgs boson production in association with an electroweak vector boson $V = W~{\rm or}~Z$ with a similarly-precise description of Higgs boson decays into a pair of massive $b$ quarks and with the anomalous couplings that modify interactions of the Higgs and electroweak vector bosons. The resulting numerical code provides the most advanced theoretical tool to investigate such anomalous couplings in the associated Higgs boson production process. We study the impact of anomalous couplings on fiducial cross sections and differential distributions and argue that, with increased QCD precision, smaller anomalous couplings become accessible in kinematic regions where the effects of higher-dimensional operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory remain small and the EFT expansion is under control.

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arXiv2021

Estimating the impact of mixed QCD-electroweak corrections on the $W$-mass determination at the LHC

We study the impact of the recently computed mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to the production of $W$ and $Z$ bosons at the LHC on the value of the $W$ mass extracted from the transverse momentum distribution of charged leptons from $W$ decays. Using the average lepton transverse momenta in $W$ and $Z$ decays as simplified observables for the determination of the $W$ mass, we estimate that mixed QCD-electroweak corrections can shift the extracted value of the $W$ mass by up to ${\cal O}(20)~{\rm MeV}$, depending on the kinematic cuts employed to define fiducial cross sections for $Z$ and $W$ production. Since the target precision of the $W$-mass measurement at the LHC is ${\cal O}(10)~{\rm MeV}$, our results emphasize the need for fully-differential computations of mixed QCD-electroweak corrections and a careful analysis of their potential impact on the determination of the $W$ mass.

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