arXiv subjects

Maarten Boonekamp

Publications and source records attributed to Maarten Boonekamp.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Modeling Uncertainties on the Z Boson Background in the Context of High Precision W Boson Mass Measurements

The precise determination of the $W$ boson mass, $m_W$, is a cornerstone of electroweak precision tests and a critical input to global fits of the Standard Model (SM). While most existing measurements of $m_W$ are in agreement with SM predictions, the recent result from the CDF collaboration exhibits a significant deviation from the SM prediction but also exceeding $4\sigma$ from the global average of all other high precision measurements. This prompts renewed scrutiny of potential sources of systematic bias. In this study, we investigate the modeling of the $Z$ boson background, which is particularly relevant in the muon decay channel of the $W$ boson, where undetected muons can mimic missing transverse momentum. Using updated theoretical predictions and high-precision simulations, we construct reweighted templates to evaluate the impact of possible mismodeling in the $Z$ background. Our analysis suggests that such effects can induce a shift in the extracted $m_W$ value of up to 8~MeV in the muon decay channel. While this shift is non-negligible and exceeds the originally quoted uncertainty from this source, it remains insufficient to explain the full discrepancy observed in the CDF measurement.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

French HEP community input to the European Strategy for Particle Physics

In view of the European Strategy for Particle Physics process, the French HEP community has organized a national process of collecting written contributions and has pursued a series of workshops culminating with a national symposium held in Paris on January 20-21, 2025 that involved over 280 scientists https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/34662/. The present document summarises the main conclusions of this bottom-up approach centred on the physics and technology motivations.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Uncertainty components in profile likelihood fits

When a measurement of a physical quantity is reported, the total uncertainty is usually decomposed into statistical and systematic uncertainties. This decomposition is not only useful to understand the contributions to the total uncertainty, but also required to propagate these contributions in subsequent analyses, such as combinations or interpretation fits including results from other measurements or experiments. In profile-likelihood fits, widely applied in high-energy physics analyses, contributions of systematic uncertainties are routinely quantified using "impacts", which are not adequate for such applications. We discuss the difference between impacts and actual uncertainty components, and establish methods to determine the latter in a wide range of statistical models.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2023

Compatibility and combination of world W-boson mass measurements

The compatibility of W-boson mass measurements performed by the ATLAS, LHCb, CDF, and D0 experiments is studied using a coherent framework with theory uncertainty correlations. The measurements are combined using a number of recent sets of parton distribution functions (PDF), and are further combined with the average value of measurements from the Large Electron-Positron collider. The considered PDF sets generally have a low compatibility with a suite of global rapidity-sensitive Drell-Yan measurements. The most compatible set is CT18 due to its larger uncertainties. A combination of all mW measurements yields a value of mW = 80394.6 +- 11.5 MeV with the CT18 set, but has a probability of compatibility of 0.5% and is therefore disfavoured. Combinations are performed removing each measurement individually, and a 91% probability of compatibility is obtained when the CDF measurement is removed. The corresponding value of the W boson mass is 80369.2 +- 13.3 MeV, which differs by 3.6 sigma from the CDF value determined using the same PDF set.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

The Development of Energy-Recovery Linacs

Energy-recovery linacs (ERLs) have been emphasised by the recent (2020) update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics as one of the most promising technologies for the accelerator base of future high-energy physics. The current paper has been written as a base document to support and specify details of the recently published European roadmap for the development of energy-recovery linacs. The paper summarises the previous achievements on ERLs and the status of the field and its basic technology items. The main possible future contributions and applications of ERLs to particle and nuclear physics as well as industrial developments are presented. The paper includes a vision for the further future, beyond 2030, as well as a comparative data base for the main existing and forthcoming ERL facilities. A series of continuous innovations, such as on intense electron sources or high-quality superconducting cavity technology, will massively contribute to the development of accelerator physics at large. Industrial applications are potentially revolutionary and may carry the development of ERLs much further, establishing another shining example of the impact of particle physics on society and its technical foundation with a special view on sustaining nature.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Drell-Yan cross-sections with fiducial cuts: impact of linear power corrections and $q_T$-resummation in PDF determination

Measurement at Hadron colliders of neutral- and charged-current Drell-Yan production provide essential constraints in the determination of parton distribution functions. Experimentally, they have reached percent level precision, challenging the accuracy of the theoretical predictions. In this work we benchmark the novel implementation in $\texttt{DYTurbo}$ of linear fiducial power corrections in the $q_T$-subtraction formalism at NLO and NNLO in QCD. We illustrate how the inclusion of linear fiducial power corrections impacts predictions for precise $W$ and $Z$ measurements from the LHC and affects their description by modern global parton distribution functions. The further inclusion of $q_T$-resummation corrections in the theoretical predictions leads to a better modelling of the lepton $p_T$ distribution and we study how this improve the description of the data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

DYTurbo: Fast predictions for Drell-Yan processes

Drell-Yan lepton pair production processes are extremely important for Standard Model (SM) precision tests and for beyond the SM searches at hadron colliders. Fast and accurate predictions are essential to enable the best use of the precision measurements of these processes; they are used for parton density fits, for the extraction of fundamental parameters of the SM, and for the estimation of background processes in searches. This paper describes a new numerical program, DYTurbo, for the calculation of the QCD transverse-momentum resummation of Drell-Yan cross sections up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy combined with the fixed-order results at next-to-next-to-leading order ($\mathcal{O}(α_{\mathrm{S}}^2)$), including the full kinematical dependence of the decaying lepton pair with the corresponding spin correlations and the finite-width effects. The DYTurbo program is an improved reimplementation of the DYqT, DYqT and DYNNLO programs, which provides fast and numerically precise predictions through the factorisation of the cross section into production and decay variables, and the usage of quadrature rules based on interpolating functions for the integration over kinematic variables.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Z boson transverse momentum spectrum from the lepton angular distributions

In view of recent discussions concerning the possibly limiting energy resolution systematics on the measurement of the Z boson transverse momentum distribution at hadron colliders, we propose a novel measurement method based on the angular distributions of the decay leptons. We also introduce a phenomenological parametrization of the transverse momentum distribution that adapts well to all currently available predictions, a useful tool to quantify their differences.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2004

DPEMC : A Monte-Carlo for Double Diffraction

We extend the POMWIG Monte Carlo generator developed by B.Cox and J.Forshaw, to include new models of central production through inclusive and exclusive Double Pomeron Exchange in proton-proton collisions. Double photon Exchange processes are described as well, both in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions. In all contexts, various models have been implemented, allowing for comparisons and uncertainty evaluation and enabling detailed experimental simulations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Quark pair simulation near threshold : Reweighting and hadronization

Methods are presented allowing a realistic, experiment-based simulation of low-mass quark pairs coupling to a virtual photon. Differential cross-section reweighting factors allow to reproduce the resonant structure observed near quark pair production thresholds, and an algorithm is proposed that allows hadronization of the light quarks in the very low mass region, where existing theory-based models are expected to break down. The corresponding routines can be embedded in two- and four-fermion generators for e+e- machines.

hep-ph↗