On Building Better Cone Jet Algorithms
We discuss recent progress in understanding the issues essential to the development of better cone jet algorithms.
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arXiv subjects
J. Huston
Publications and source records attributed to J. Huston.
Generic User Process Interface for Event Generators
Generic Fortran common blocks are presented for use by High Energy Physics event generators for the transfer of event configurations from parton level generators to showering and hadronization event generators.
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Uncertainties of predictions from parton distribution functions II: the Hessian method
We develop a general method to quantify the uncertainties of parton distribution functions and their physical predictions, with emphasis on incorporating all relevant experimental constraints. The method uses the Hessian formalism to study an effective chi-squared function that quantifies the fit between theory and experiment. Key ingredients are a recently developed iterative procedure to calculate the Hessian matrix in the difficult global analysis environment, and the use of parameters defined as components along appropriately normalized eigenvectors. The result is a set of 2d Eigenvector Basis parton distributions (where d=16 is the number of parton parameters) from which the uncertainty on any physical quantity due to the uncertainty in parton distributions can be calculated. We illustrate the method by applying it to calculate uncertainties of gluon and quark distribution functions, W boson rapidity distributions, and the correlation between W and Z production cross sections.
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Uncertainties of Predictions from Parton Distribution Functions I: the Lagrange Multiplier Method
We apply the Lagrange Multiplier method to study the uncertainties of physical predictions due to the uncertainties of parton distribution functions (PDFs), using the cross section for W production at a hadron collider as an archetypal example. An effective chi-squared function based on the CTEQ global QCD analysis is used to generate a series of PDFs, each of which represents the best fit to the global data for some specified value of the cross section. By analyzing the likelihood of these "alterative hypotheses", using available information on errors from the individual experiments, we estimate that the fractional uncertainty of the cross section due to current experimental input to the PDF analysis is approximately 4% at the Tevatron, and 8-10% at the LHC. We give sets of PDFs corresponding to these up and down variations of the cross section. We also present similar results on Z production at the colliders. Our method can be applied to any combination of physical variables in precision QCD phenomenology, and it can be used to generate benchmarks for testing the accuracy of approximate methods based on the error matrix.
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Report of the QCD Tools Working Group
We report on the activities of the ``QCD Tools for heavy flavors and new physics searches'' working group of the Run II Workshop on QCD and Weak Bosons. The contributions cover the topics of improved parton showering and comparisons of Monte Carlo programs and resummation calculations, recent developments in Pythia, the methodology of measuring backgrounds to new physics searches, variable flavor number schemes for heavy quark electro-production, the underlying event in hard scattering processes, and the Monte Carlo MCFM for NLO processes.
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Report of the Working Group on Photon and Weak Boson Production
This report discusses physics issues which can be addressed in photon and weak boson production in Run II at the Tevatron. The current understanding and the potential of Run II to expand our knowledge of direct photon production in hadronic collisions is discussed. We explore the prospects for using the W-boson cross section to measure the integrated luminosity, improving the measurement of the W and Z boson transverse momentum distributions, the Z -> b\bar b signal, and the lepton angular distribution in W decays. Finally, we consider the prospects for measuring the trilinear gauge boson couplings in Run II.
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Examination of direct-photon and pion production in proton-nucleon collisions
We present a study of inclusive direct-photon and pion production in hadronic interactions, focusing on a comparison of the ratio of gamma/pi0 yields with expectations from next-to-leading order perturbative QCD (NLO pQCD). We also examine the impact of a phenomenological model involving k_T smearing (which approximates effects of additional soft-gluon emission) on absolute predictions for photon and pion production and their ratio.
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Higgs Production: A Comparison of Parton Showers and Resummation
The search for the Higgs boson(s) is one of the major priorities at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Monte Carlo event generators (MCs) are heavily utilized to extract and interpret the Higgs signal, which depends on the details of the multiple soft-gluon emission from the initial state partons in hadronic collisions. Thus, it is crucial to establish the reliability of the MCs used by the experimentalists. In this paper, the MC based parton shower formalism is compared to that of an analytic resummation calculation. Theoretical input, predictions and, where they exist, data for the transverse momentum distribution of Higgs bosons, $Z^0$ bosons, and photon pairs are compared for the Tevatron and the LHC. This comparison is useful in understanding the strengths and the weaknesses of the different theoretical approaches, and in testing their reliability.
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Large-x Parton Distributions
Reliable knowledge of parton distributions at large x is crucial for many searches for new physics signals in the next generation of collider experiments. Although these are generally well determined in the small and medium x range, it has been shown that their uncertainty grows rapidly for x>0.1. We examine the status of the gluon and quark distributions in light of new questions that have been raised in the past two years about "large-x" parton distributions, as well as recent measurements which have improved the parton uncertainties. Finally, we provide a status report of the data used in the global analysis, and note some of the open issues where future experiments, including those planned for Jefferson Labs, might contribute.
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Parton Densitites at High-x
Reliable knowledge of parton distributions at large x is crucial for many searches for new physics signals in the next generation of collider experiments. Although these are generally well determined in the small and medium x range, it has been shown that their uncertainty grows rapidly for x>0.1. We examine the status of the distributions in light of new questions that have been raised about "large-x" parton distributions, as well as recent measurements which have improved the parton uncertainties.
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Parton Distributions Working Group
The main focus of this working group was to investigate the different issues associated with the development of quantitative tools to estimate parton distribution functions uncertainties. In the conclusion, we introduce a "Manifesto" that describes an optimal method for reporting data.
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Uncertainties of Parton Distribution Functions and Their Implications on Physical Predictions
We describe preliminary results from an effort to quantify the uncertainties in parton distribution functions and the resulting uncertainties in predicted physical quantities. The production cross section of the $W$ boson is given as a first example. Constraints due to the full data sets of the CTEQ global analysis are used in this study. Two complementary approaches, based on the Hessian and the Lagrange multiplier method respectively, are outlined. We discuss issues on obtaining meaningful uncertainty estimates that include the effect of correlated experimental systematic uncertainties and illustrate them with detailed calculations using one set of precision DIS data.
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The QCD and Standard Model Working Group: Summary Report from Les Houches
The Les Houches Workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders took place from June 8-18, 1999. One of the three working groups at Les Houches concentrated on QCD issues, both at the Tevatron Collider and at the LHC. Besides the interest in QCD in its own right, QCD dynamics plays an important role in the production mechanisms for any new physics process that might be observed at either collider, as well as any processes that may form backgrounds to the new physics. This writeup serves both as a pedagogical overview of QCD as well as an update on the current status of the field.
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Large-x Parton Distributions
Reliable knowledge of parton distributions at large x is crucial for many searches for new physics signals in the next generation of collider experiments. Although these are generally well determined in the small and medium x range, it has been shown that their uncertainty grows rapidly for x > 0.1. We examine the status of the gluon and quark distributions in light of new questions that have been raised in the past two years about large-x parton distributions, as well as recent measurements which have improved the parton uncertainties. We perform several specific global fits to answer the outstanding questions, and to investigate the potential of future experiments, particularly at HERA, which may provide critical constraints on parton distributions at large x.
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Global QCD Analysis of Parton Structure of the Nucleon: CTEQ5 Parton Distributions
An up-to-date global QCD analysis of high energy lepton-hadron and hadron-hadron interactions is performed to better determine the gluon and quark parton distributions in the nucleon. Improved experimental data on inclusive jet production, in conjunction with precise deep inelastic scattering data, place good constraints on the gluon over a wide range of x; while new data on asymmetries in Drell-Yan processes contribute to better determine the d/u ratio. Comparisons with results of other recent global analyses are made, and the differences are described. Open issues and the general problem of determining the uncertainties of parton distributions are discussed.
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QCD at High Energies
This talk summarizes recent QCD results from HERA, the Tevatron Collider and Tevatron fixed target experiments.
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kt Effects in Direct-Photon Production
We discuss the phenomenology of initial-state parton-kt broadening in direct-photon production and related processes in hadron collisions. After a brief summary of the theoretical basis for a Gaussian-smearing approach, we present a systematic study of recent results on fixed-target and collider direct-photon production, using complementary data on diphoton and pion production to provide empirical guidance on the required amount of kt broadening. This approach provides a consistent description of the observed pattern of deviation of next-to-leading order QCD calculations relative to the direct-photon data, and accounts for the shape and normalization difference between fixed-order perturbative calculations and the data. We also discuss the uncertainties in this phenomenological approach, the implications of these results on the extraction of the gluon distribution of the nucleon, and the comparison of our findings to recent related work.
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