SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

G. Passarino

Publications and source records attributed to G. Passarino.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The HiggsTools Handbook: Concepts and observables for deciphering the Nature of the Higgs Sector

This Report summarizes some of the activities of the HiggsTools Initial Training Network working group in the period 2015-2017. The main goal of this working group was to produce a document discussing various aspects of state-of-the-art Higgs physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a pedagogic manner. The first part of the Report is devoted to a description of phenomenological searches for New Physics at the LHC. As the experimental measurements become more and more precise, there is a pressing need for a consistent framework in which deviations from the SM predictions can be computed precisely. We critically review the use of the \k{appa}-framework, fiducial and simplified template cross sections, effective field theories, pseudo-observables and phenomenological Lagrangians. In the second part of the Report, we propose $φ_η^*$ as a new and complementary observable for studying Higgs boson production at large transverse momentum in the case where the Higgs boson decays to two photons. We make a detailed study of the phenomenology of the $φ_η^*$ variable, contrasting the behaviour with the Higgs transverse momentum distribution using a variety of theoretical tools including event generators and fixed order perturbative computations.

hep-ph

Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 3. Higgs Properties

This Report summarizes the results of the activities in 2012 and the first half of 2013 of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the state of the art of Higgs Physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. This report follows the first working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002) and the second working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions (CERN-2012-002). After the discovery of a Higgs boson at the LHC in mid-2012 this report focuses on refined prediction of Standard Model (SM) Higgs phenomenology around the experimentally observed value of 125-126 GeV, refined predictions for heavy SM-like Higgs bosons as well as predictions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and first steps to go beyond these models. The other main focus is on the extraction of the characteristics and properties of the newly discovered particle such as couplings to SM particles, spin and CP-quantum numbers etc.

hep-ph

Higgs production and decay with a fourth Standard-Model-like fermion generation

State-of-the-art predictions for the Higgs-boson production cross section via gluon fusion and for all relevant Higgs-boson decay channels are presented in the presence of a fourth Standard-Model-like fermion generation. The qualitative features of the most important differences to the genuine Standard Model are pointed out, and the use of the available tools for the predictions is described. For a generic mass scale of 400-600 GeV in the fourth generation explicit numerical results for the cross section and decay widths are presented, revealing extremely large electroweak radiative corrections, e.g., to the cross section and the Higgs decay into WW or ZZ pairs, where they amount to about -50% or more. This signals the onset of a non-perturbative regime due to the large Yukawa couplings in the fourth generation. An estimate of the respective large theoretical uncertainties is presented as well.

hep-ph

Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions

This Report summarises the results of the second year's activities of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the state of the art of Higgs Physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. The first working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002) focuses on predictions (central values and errors) for total Higgs production cross sections and Higgs branching ratios in the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension, covering also related issues such as Monte Carlo generators, parton distribution functions, and pseudo-observables. This second Report represents the next natural step towards realistic predictions upon providing results on cross sections with benchmark cuts, differential distributions, details of specific decay channels, and further recent developments.

hep-ph

Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables

This Report summarizes the results of the first 10 months' activities of the LHC Higgs Cross Sections Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the status-of-art on Higgs Physics at the LHC integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. The Report is more than a mere collection of the proceedings of the general meetings. The subgroups have been working in different directions. An attempt has been made to present the first Report from these subgroups in a complete and homogeneous form. The subgroups' contributions correspondingly comprise the main parts of the Report. A significant amount of work has been performed in providing higher-order corrections to the Higgs-boson cross sections and pinning down the theoretical uncertainty of the Standard Model predictions. This Report comprises explicit numerical results on total cross sections, leaving the issues of event selection cuts and differential distributions to future publications. The subjects for further study are identified.

hep-ph

A proposal for a standard interface between Monte Carlo tools and one-loop programs

Many highly developed Monte Carlo tools for the evaluation of cross sections based on tree matrix elements exist and are used by experimental collaborations in high energy physics. As the evaluation of one-loop matrix elements has recently been undergoing enormous progress, the combination of one-loop matrix elements with existing Monte Carlo tools is on the horizon. This would lead to phenomenological predictions at the next-to-leading order level. This note summarises the discussion of the next-to-leading order multi-leg (NLM) working group on this issue which has been taking place during the workshop on Physics at TeV colliders at Les Houches, France, in June 2009. The result is a proposal for a standard interface between Monte Carlo tools and one-loop matrix element programs.

hep-ph

NNLO Computational Techniques: the Cases H -> gamma gamma and H -> g g

A large set of techniques needed to compute decay rates at the two-loop level are derived and systematized. The main emphasis of the paper is on the two Standard Model decays H -> gamma gamma and H -> g g. The techniques, however, have a much wider range of application: they give practical examples of general rules for two-loop renormalization; they introduce simple recipes for handling internal unstable particles in two-loop processes; they illustrate simple procedures for the extraction of collinear logarithms from the amplitude. The latter is particularly relevant to show cancellations, e.g. cancellation of collinear divergencies. Furthermore, the paper deals with the proper treatment of non-enhanced two-loop QCD and electroweak contributions to different physical (pseudo-)observables, showing how they can be transformed in a way that allows for a stable numerical integration. Numerical results for the two-loop percentage corrections to H -> gamma gamma, g g are presented and discussed. When applied to the process pp -> gg + X -> H + X, the results show that the electroweak scaling factor for the cross section is between -4 % and + 6 % in the range 100 GeV < Mh < 500 GeV, without incongruent large effects around the physical electroweak thresholds, thereby showing that only a complete implementation of the computational scheme keeps two-loop corrections under control.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Threshold Singularities, Unstable Particles and Complex Masses

The effect of threshold singularities induced by unstable particles on two-loop observables is investigated and it is shown how to cure them working in the complex-mass scheme. The impact on radiative corrections around thresholds is thoroughly analyzed and shown to be relevant for two selected LHC and ILC applications: Higgs production via gluon fusion and decay into two photons at two loops in the Standard Model. Concerning Higgs production, it is essential to understand possible sources of large corrections in addition to the well-known QCD effects. It is shown that NLO electroweak corrections can incongruently reach a 10 % level around the WW vector-boson threshold without a complete implementation of the complex-mass scheme in the two-loop calculation.

hep-ph

NLO Electroweak Corrections to Higgs Boson Production at Hadron Colliders

Results for the complete NLO electroweak corrections to Standard Model Higgs production via gluon fusion are included in the total cross section for hadronic collisions. Artificially large threshold effects are avoided working in the complex-mass scheme. The numerical impact at LHC (Tevatron) energies is explored for Higgs mass values up to 500 GeV (200 GeV). Assuming a complete factorization of the electroweak corrections, one finds a +5 % shift with respect to the NNLO QCD cross section for a Higgs mass of 120 GeV both at the LHC and the Tevatron. Adopting two different factorization schemes for the electroweak effects, an estimate of the corresponding total theoretical uncertainty is computed.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Renormalization in the Standard Model Part II: Renormalization Procedures and Computational Techniques

In part I general aspects of the renormalization of a spontaneously broken gauge theory have been introduced. Here, in part II, two-loop renormalization is introduced and discussed within the context of the minimal Standard Model. Therefore, this paper deals with the transition between bare parameters and fields to renormalized ones. The full list of one- and two-loop counterterms is shown and it is proven that, by a suitable extension of the formalism already introduced at the one-loop level, two-point functions suffice in renormalizing the model. The problem of overlapping ultraviolet divergencies is analyzed and it is shown that all counterterms are local and of polynomial nature. The original program of 't Hooft and Veltman is at work. Finite parts are written in a way that allows for a fast and reliable numerical integration with all collinear logarithms extracted analytically. Finite renormalization, the transition between renormalized parameters and physical (pseudo-)observables, will be discussed in part III where numerical results, e.g. for the complex poles of the unstable gauge bosons, will be shown. An attempt will be made to define the running of the electromagnetic coupling constant at the two-loop level.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Renormalization in the Standard Model Part I: Prolegomena

In this paper the building blocks for the two-loop renormalization of the Standard Model are introduced with a comprehensive discussion of the special vertices induced in the Lagrangian by a particular diagonalization of the neutral sector and by two alternative treatments of the Higgs tadpoles. Dyson resummed propagators for the gauge bosons are derived, and two-loop Ward-Slavnov-Taylor identities are discussed. In part II, the complete set of counterterms needed for the two-loop renormalization will be derived. In part III, a renormalization scheme will be introduced, connecting the renormalized quantities to an input parameter set of (pseudo-)experimental data, critically discussing renormalization of a gauge theory with unstable particles.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Renormalization in the Standard Model Part III: Renormalization Equations and their Solutions

In part I and II of this series of papers all elements have been introduced to extend, to two loops, the set of renormalization procedures which are needed in describing the properties of a spontaneously broken gauge theory. In this paper, the final step is undertaken and finite renormalization is discussed. Two-loop renormalization equations are introduced and their solutions discussed within the context of the minimal standard model of fundamental interactions. These equations relate renormalized Lagrangian parameters (couplings and masses) to some input parameter set containing physical (pseudo-)observables. Complex poles for unstable gauge and Higgs bosons are used and a consistent setup is constructed for extending the predictivity of the theory from the Lep1 Z-boson scale (or the Lep2 WW scale) to regions of interest for LHC and ILC physics.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Tensor Integrals in Quantum Field Theory

A comprehensive study is performed of general massive, tensor, two-loop Feynman diagrams with two and three external legs. Reduction to generalized scalar functions is discussed. Integral representations, supporting the same class of smoothness algorithms already employed for the numerical evaluation of ordinary scalar functions, are introduced for each family of diagrams.

hep-ph

Two-Loop Vertices in Quantum Field Theory: Infrared Convergent Scalar Configurations

A comprehensive study is performed of general massive, scalar, two-loop Feynman diagrams with three external legs. Algorithms for their numerical evaluation are introduced and discussed, numerical results are shown for all different topologies, and comparisons with analytical results, whenever available, are performed. An internal cross-check, based on alternative procedures, is also applied. The analysis of infrared divergent configurations, as well as the treatment of tensor integrals, will be discussed in two forthcoming papers.

hep-ph