arXiv subjects

Li Lin Yang

Publications and source records attributed to Li Lin Yang.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Measuring the Higgs boson self-coupling at the LHC using ratios of cross sections

We consider the ratio between the double and single Higgs production cross sections and examine the prospect of measuring the trilinear Higgs self-coupling using this observable. Such a ratio has a reduced theoretical (scale) uncertainty than the double Higgs cross section. We find that with 600/fb, the 14 TeV LHC can constraint the trilinear Higgs self coupling to be positive, and with 3000/fb one could measure it with a +30 % {-20 %}) accuracy.

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arXiv2013

Higgs Boson self-coupling measurements using ratios of cross sections

We consider the ratio of cross sections of double-to-single Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider at 14 TeV. Since both processes possess similar higher-order corrections, leading to a cancellation of uncertainties in the ratio, this observable is well-suited to constrain the trilinear Higgs boson self-coupling. We consider the scale variation, parton density function uncertainties and conservative estimates of experimental uncertainties, applied to the viable decay channels, to construct expected exclusion regions. We show that the trilinear self-coupling can be constrained to be positive with a 600/fb LHC dataset at 95% confidence level. Moreover, we demonstrate that we expect to obtain a ~+30% and ~-20 uncertainty on the self-coupling at 3000/fb without statistical fitting of differential distributions. The present article outlines the most precise method of determination of the Higgs trilinear coupling to date.

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arXiv2013

Transverse-momentum resummation for top-quark pairs at hadron colliders

We develop a framework for a systematic resummation of the transverse momentum distribution of top-quark pairs produced at hadron colliders based on effective field theory. Compared to Drell-Yan and Higgs production, a novel soft function matrix is required to account for the soft gluon emissions from the final states. We calculate this soft function at the next-to-leading order, and perform the resummation at the next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. We compare our results with parton shower programs and with the experimental data at the Tevatron and the LHC. We also discuss the implications for the top quark charge asymmetry.

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arXiv2013

Higgs boson pair production at the LHC in the $b \bar{b} W^+ W^-$ channel

We consider Higgs boson pair production at the LHC in the $b \bar{b} W^+ W^-$ channel, with subsequent decay of the $W^+W^-$ pair into $\ell νj j$. Employing jet substructure and event reconstruction techniques, we show that strong evidence for this channel can be found at the 14 TeV LHC with 600 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, thus improving the current reach for the production of Higgs boson pairs. This measurement will allow to probe the trilinear Higgs boson coupling $λ$.

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arXiv2012

Transverse parton distribution functions at next-to-next-to-leading order: the quark-to-quark case

We present a calculation of the perturbative quark-to-quark transverse parton distribution function at next-to-next-to-leading order based on a gauge invariant operator definition. We demonstrate for the first time that such a definition works beyond the first non-trivial order. We extract from our calculation the coefficient functions relevant for a next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic $Q_T$ resummation in a large class of processes at hadron colliders.

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arXiv2012

The NNLO soft function for the pair invariant mass distribution of boosted top quarks

At high values of the pair invariant mass the differential cross section for top-quark pair production at hadron colliders factorizes into soft, hard, and fragmentation functions. In this paper we calculate the next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) corrections to the soft function appearing in this factorization formula, thus providing the final piece needed to evaluate at NNLO the differential cross section in the virtual plus soft approximation in the large invariant-mass limit. Technically, this amounts to evaluating the vacuum expectation value of a soft Wilson loop operator built out of light-like Wilson lines for each of the four partons participating in the hard scattering process, with a certain constraint on the total energy of the soft radiation. Our result turns out to be surprisingly simple, because in the sum of all graphs the three and four parton contributions multiply color structures whose coefficients are governed by the non-abelian exponentiation theorem.

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arXiv2012

Soft-gluon resummation for boosted top-quark production at hadron colliders

We investigate the production of highly energetic top-quark pairs at hadron colliders, focusing on the case where the invariant mass of the pair is much larger than the mass of the top quark. In particular, we set up a factorization formalism appropriate for describing the differential partonic cross section in the double soft and small-mass limit, and explain how to resum simultaneously logarithmic corrections arising from soft gluon emission and from the ratio of the pair-invariant mass to that of the top quark to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. We explore the implications of our results on approximate next-to-next-to-leading order formulas for the differential cross section in the soft limit, pointing out that they offer a simplified calculational procedure for determining the currently unknown delta-function terms in the limit of high invariant mass.

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arXiv2011

Search for anomalous top quark production at the early LHC

We present a detailed study of the anomalous top quark production with subsequent decay at the LHC induced by model-independent flavor-changing neutral-current couplings, incorporating the complete next-to-leading order QCD effects. Our results show that, taking into account the current limits from the Tevatron, the LHC with $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV may discover the anomalous coupling at 5$σ$ level for a very low integrated luminosity of 61 pb$^{-1}$. The discovery potentials for the anomalous couplings at the LHC are examined in detail. We also discuss the possibility of using the charge ratio to distinguish the $tug$ and $tcg$ couplings.

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arXiv2011

The top-pair forward-backward asymmetry beyond NLO

We make use of recent results in effective theory and higher-order perturbative calculations to improve the theoretical predictions of the QCD contribution to the top-quark pair production forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron. In particular, we supplement the fixed-order NLO calculation with higher-order corrections from soft gluon resummation at NNLL accuracy performed in two different kinematic schemes, which allows us to make improved predictions for the asymmetry in the $p\bar p$ and $t\bar t$ rest frames as a function of the rapidity and invariant mass of the $t\bar t$ pair. Furthermore, we provide binned results which can be compared with the recent measurements of the forward-backward asymmetry in events with a large pair invariant mass or rapidity difference. Finally, we calculate at NLO+NNLL order the top-quark charge asymmetry at the LHC as a function of a lower rapidity cut-off for the top and antitop quarks.

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arXiv2011

Precision predictions for the t+t(bar) production cross section at hadron colliders

We make use of recent results in effective theory and higher-order perturbative calculations to improve the theoretical predictions of the top-quark pair production cross section at hadron colliders. In particular, we supplement the fixed-order NLO calculation with higher-order corrections from soft gluon resummation at NNLL accuracy. Uncertainties due to power corrections to the soft limit are estimated by combining results from single-particle inclusive and pair invariant-mass kinematics. We present our predictions as functions of the top-quark mass in both the pole scheme and the MS(bar) scheme. We also discuss the merits of using threshold masses as an alternative, and calculate the cross section with the top-quark mass defined in the 1S scheme as an illustrative example.

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arXiv2010

Renormalization-Group Improved Predictions for Top-Quark Pair Production at Hadron Colliders

Precision predictions for phenomenologically interesting observables such as the t-tbar invariant mass distribution and forward-backward asymmetry in top-quark pair production at hadron colliders require control over the differential cross section in perturbative QCD. In this paper we improve existing calculations of the doubly differential cross section in the invariant mass and scattering angle by using techniques from soft-collinear effective theory to perform an NNLL resummation of threshold logarithms, which become large when the invariant mass M of the top-quark pair approaches the partonic center-of-mass energy. We also derive an approximate formula for the differential cross section at NNLO in fixed-order perturbation theory, which completely determines the coefficients multiplying the singular plus distributions. We then match our results in the threshold region with the exact results at NLO in fixed-order perturbation theory, and perform a numerical analysis of the invariant mass distribution, the total cross section, and the forward-backward asymmetry. We argue that these are the most accurate predictions available for these observables at present. Using MSTW2008NNLO parton distribution functions (PDFs) along with α_s(M_Z)=0.117 and m_t=173.1 GeV, we obtain for the inclusive production cross sections at the Tevatron and LHC the values σ_{Tevatron} = (6.30 +-0.19 +0.31-0.23) pb and σ_{LHC} = (149 +- 7 +- 8) pb, where the first error results from scale variations while the second reflects PDF uncertainties.

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arXiv2010

Updated Predictions for Higgs Production at the Tevatron and the LHC

We present updated predictions for the total cross section for Higgs boson production through gluon fusion at hadron colliders. In addition to renormalization-group improvement at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, we incorporate the two-loop electroweak corrections, which leads to the most precise predictions at present. Numerical results are given for Higgs masses between 115 GeV and 200 GeV at the Tevatron with \sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV and the LHC with \sqrt{s}=7-14 TeV.

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arXiv2010

Threshold expansion at order alpha_s^4 for the t-tbar invariant mass distribution at hadron colliders

We calculate the leading O(alpha_s^4) contributions to the invariant mass distribution of top-quark pairs produced at the Tevatron and LHC, in the limit where the invariant mass of the t-tbar pair approaches the partonic center-of-mass energy. Our results determine at NNLO in alpha_s the coefficients of all singular plus distributions and scale-dependent logarithms in the differential partonic cross sections for q-qbar, gg -> t-tbar + X. A numerical analysis showing the effects of the NNLO corrections on the central values and scale dependence of the invariant mass distribution is performed. The NNLO corrections are found to significantly enhance the cross section and reduce the perturbative uncertainties compared to the NLO calculation.

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arXiv2009

Two-loop divergences of massive scattering amplitudes in non-abelian gauge theories

The infrared divergences of QCD scattering amplitudes can be derived from an anomalous dimension Γ, which is a matrix in color space and depends on the momenta and masses of the external partons. It has recently been shown that in cases where there are at least two massive partons involved in the scattering process, starting at two-loop order Γreceives contributions involving color and momentum correlations between three (and more) partons. The three-parton correlations can be described by two universal functions F_1 and f_2. In this paper these functions are calculated at two-loop order in closed analytic form and their properties are studied in detail. Both functions are found to be suppressed like O(m^4/s^2) in the limit of small parton masses, in accordance with mass factorization theorems proposed in the literature. On the other hand, both functions are O(1) and even diverge logarithmically near the threshold for pair production of two heavy particles. As an application, we calculate the infrared poles in the q qbar --> t tbar and g g --> t tbar scattering amplitudes at two-loop order.

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arXiv2009

Two-loop divergences of scattering amplitudes with massive partons

We complete the study of two-loop infrared singularities of scattering amplitudes with an arbitrary number of massive and massless partons in non-abelian gauge theories. To this end, we calculate the universal functions F_1 and f_2, which completely specify the structure of three-parton correlations in the soft anomalous-dimension matrix, at two-loop order in closed analytic form. Both functions are found to be suppressed like O(m^4/s^2) in the limit of small parton masses, in accordance with mass factorization theorems proposed in the literature. On the other hand, they are unsuppressed and diverge logarithmically near the threshold for pair production of two heavy particles. As an application, we calculate the two-loop anomalous-dimension matrix for q q_bar --> t t_bar near threshold and show that it is not diagonal in the s-channel singlet-octet basis.

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arXiv2008

Origin of the Large Perturbative Corrections to Higgs Production at Hadron Colliders

The very large K-factor for Higgs-boson production at hadron colliders is shown to result from enhanced perturbative corrections of the form (C_Aπα_s)^n, which arise in the analytic continuation of the gluon form factor to time-like momentum transfer. These terms are resummed to all orders in perturbation theory using the renormalization group. After the resummation, the K-factor for the production of a light Higgs boson at the LHC is reduced to a value close to 1.3.

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arXiv2007

Threshold Resummation Effects in the Associated Production of Chargino and Neutralino at Hadron Colliders

We investigate the QCD effects in the associated production of the chargino and the neutralino, $\tildeχ^\pm_{1}$ and $\tildeχ^0_{2}$, in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) at both the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We include the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections (including supersymmetric QCD) and the threshold resummation effects. Our results show that, compared to the NLO predictions, the threshold resummation effects can increase the total cross sections by 3.6% and 3.9% for the associated production of $\tildeχ^+_{1}\tildeχ^0_{2}$ and $\tildeχ^-_{1}\tildeχ^0_{2}$ at the LHC, respectively, and by 4.7% for those of $\tildeχ^\pm_{1}\tildeχ^0_{2}$ at the Tevatron. In the invariant mass distributions the resummation effects are significant for large invariant mass. The threshold resummation reduces the dependence of the total cross sections at the LHC (Tevatron) on the renormalization/factorization scales to 5% (4%) from up to 7% (11%) at NLO.

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arXiv2007

New constraints on R-parity violating couplings through the measurements of the $B^0_{s(d)}$-${\bar{B}^0_{s(d)}}$ and $K^0$-$\bar{K}^0$ mixing

We calculate contributions to $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mixing through tree-level sneutrino exchange in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric standard model with R-parity violation, including the next-to-leading-order QCD corrections. We compare our results with the updated bounds on the $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mass difference reported by CDF collaborations, and present new constraints on the relevant combinations of parameters of the minimal supersymmetric standard model with R-parity violation. Our results show that upper bound on the relevant combination of couplings of $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mixing is of the order $10^{-9}$. We also calculate the $B^0_d-\bar{B}^0_d$ and $K^0-\bar{K}^0$ mass differences, and show that the upper bounds on the relevant combinations of couplings are two and four orders of magnitude stronger than ones reported in the literatures, respectively. We also discuss the case of complex couplings and show that how the relevant combinations of couplings are constrained by the updated experiment data of $B_s-\bar{B}_s$, $B_d-\bar{B}_d$ mixing and time-dependent CP asymmetry $S_{J/ψK_s}$, and future possible observations of $S_{J/ψϕ}$ at LHCb, respectively.

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