arXiv subjects

P. Maierhöfer

Publications and source records attributed to P. Maierhöfer.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Theory for the FCC-ee : Report on the 11th FCC-ee Workshop

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN, a proposed 100-km circular facility with several colliders in succession, culminates with a 100 TeV proton-proton collider. It offers a vast new domain of exploration in particle physics, with orders of magnitude advances in terms of Precision, Sensitivity and Energy. The implementation plan foresees, as a first step, an Electroweak Factory electron-positron collider. This high luminosity facility, operating between 90 and 365 GeV centre-of-mass energy, will study the heavy particles of the Standard Model, Z, W, Higgs, and top with unprecedented accuracy. The Electroweak Factory $e^+e^-$ collider constitutes a real challenge to the theory and to precision calculations, triggering the need for the development of new mathematical methods and software tools. A first workshop in 2018 had focused on the first FCC-ee stage, the Tera-Z, and confronted the theoretical status of precision Standard Model calculations on the Z-boson resonance to the experimental demands. The second workshop in January 2019, which is reported here, extended the scope to the next stages, with the production of W-bosons (FCC-ee-W), the Higgs boson (FCC-ee-H) and top quarks (FCC-ee-tt). In particular, the theoretical precision in the determination of the crucial input parameters, alpha_QED, alpha_QCD, M_W, m_t at the level of FCC-ee requirements is thoroughly discussed. The requirements on Standard Model theory calculations were spelled out, so as to meet the demanding accuracy of the FCC-ee experimental potential. The discussion of innovative methods and tools for multi-loop calculations was deepened. Furthermore, phenomenological analyses beyond the Standard Model were discussed, in particular the effective theory approaches. The reports of 2018 and 2019 serve as white papers of the workshop results and subsequent developments.

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arXiv2018

Les Houches 2017: Physics at TeV Colliders Standard Model Working Group Report

This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2017 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt with (I) new developments relevant for high precision Standard Model calculations, (II) theoretical uncertainties and dataset dependence of parton distribution functions, (III) new developments in jet substructure techniques, (IV) issues in the theoretical description of the production of Standard Model Higgs bosons and how to relate experimental measurements, (V) phenomenological studies essential for comparing LHC data from Run II with theoretical predictions and projections for future measurements, and (VI) new developments in Monte Carlo event generators.

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arXiv2017

Precise predictions for V+jets dark matter backgrounds

High-energy jets recoiling against missing transverse energy (MET) are powerful probes of dark matter at the LHC. Searches based on large MET signatures require a precise control of the $Z(ν\barν)+$jet background in the signal region. This can be achieved by taking accurate data in control regions dominated by $Z(\ell^+\ell^-)+$jet, $W(\ellν)+$jet and $γ+$jet production, and extrapolating to the $Z(ν\barν)+$jet background by means of precise theoretical predictions. In this context, recent advances in perturbative calculations open the door to significant sensitivity improvements in dark matter searches. In this spirit, we present a combination of state-of-the art calculations for all relevant $V+$jets processes, including throughout NNLO QCD corrections and NLO electroweak corrections supplemented by Sudakov logarithms at two loops. Predictions at parton level are provided together with detailed recommendations for their usage in experimental analyses based on the reweighting of Monte Carlo samples. Particular attention is devoted to the estimate of theoretical uncertainties in the framework of dark matter searches, where subtle aspects such as correlations across different $V+$jet processes play a key role. The anticipated theoretical uncertainty in the $Z(ν\barν)+$jet background is at the few percent level up to the TeV range.

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arXiv2016

Physics at a 100 TeV pp collider: Standard Model processes

This report summarises the properties of Standard Model processes at the 100 TeV pp collider. We document the production rates and typical distributions for a number of benchmark Standard Model processes, and discuss new dynamical phenomena arising at the highest energies available at this collider. We discuss the intrinsic physics interest in the measurement of these Standard Model processes, as well as their role as backgrounds for New Physics searches.

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arXiv2016

Les Houches 2015: Physics at TeV Colliders Standard Model Working Group Report

This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2015 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt with (I) new developments relevant for high precision Standard Model calculations, (II) the new PDF4LHC parton distributions, (III) issues in the theoretical description of the production of Standard Model Higgs bosons and how to relate experimental measurements, (IV) a host of phenomenological studies essential for comparing LHC data from Run I with theoretical predictions and projections for future measurements in Run II, and (V) new developments in Monte Carlo event generators.

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arXiv2015

Charm and Bottom Quark Masses: an Update

Using new four-loop results for the heavy quark vacuum polarization and new data for bottom quark production in electron-positron annihilation, an update on the determination of charm- and bottom-quark masses through sum rules has been performed. The previous result for the charm-quark mass, $m_c(3 {\rm GeV})= 0.986(13) {\rm GeV}$, based on the lowest moment, is supported by the new results from higher moments which lead to consistent values with comparable errors. The new value for the bottom quark, $m_b(10 {\rm GeV})= 3.610(16) {\rm GeV}$, corresponding to $m_b(m_b)= 4.163(16) {\rm GeV}$, makes use both of the new data and the new perturbative results and is consistent with the earlier determination.

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arXiv2014

ZZ production at hadron colliders in NNLO QCD

We report on the first calculation of next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the inclusive production of ZZ pairs at hadron colliders. Numerical results are presented for pp collisions with centre-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) ranging from 7 to 14 TeV. The NNLO corrections increase the NLO result by an amount varying from $11\%$ to $17\%$ as $\sqrt{s}$ goes from 7 to 14 TeV. The loop-induced gluon fusion contribution provides about $60\%$ of the total NNLO effect. When going from NLO to NNLO the scale uncertainties do not decrease and remain at the $\pm 3\%$ level.

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arXiv2014

$W^+W^-$ production at hadron colliders in NNLO QCD

Charged gauge boson pair production at the Large Hadron Collider allows detailed probes of the fundamental structure of electroweak interactions. We present precise theoretical predictions for on-shell $W^+W^-$ production that include, for the first time, QCD effects up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory. As compared to next-to-leading order, the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section is enhanced by 9% at 7 TeV and 12% at 14 TeV. The residual perturbative uncertainty is at the 3% level. The severe contamination of the $W^+W^-$ cross section due to top-quark resonances is discussed in detail. Comparing different definitions of top-free $W^+W^-$ production in the four and five flavour number schemes, we demonstrate that top-quark resonances can be separated from the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section without significant loss of theoretical precision.

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arXiv2014

A unified NLO description of top-pair and associated Wt production

We present an NLO simulation of WWbb production with massive b-quarks at the LHC. Off-shell and non-resonant contributions associated with top-pair and single-top channels and with leptonic W-boson decays are consistently taken into account using the complex-mass scheme. Thanks to the finite b-quark mass, WWbb predictions can be extended to the whole b-quark phase space, thereby including Wt-channel single-top contributions that originate from collinear g->bb splittings in the four-flavour scheme. This provides a consistent NLO description of tt and Wt production and decay, including quantum interference effects. The simulation is also applicable to exclusive 0- and 1-jet bins, which is of great importance for Higgs-boson studies in the H->WW channel and for any other analysis with large top backgrounds and jet vetoes or jet bins.

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arXiv2012

Complete three-loop QCD corrections to the decay H -> γγ

We present the result for the three-loop singlet QCD corrections to the decay of a Higgs boson into two photons and improve the calculation for the non-singlet case. With the new result presented, the decay width Gamma(H -> γγ) is completely known at O(G_F α^2 α_s^2, G_F α^3).

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arXiv2010

Precise Charm- and Bottom-Quark Masses: Theoretical and Experimental Uncertainties

Recent theoretical and experimental improvements in the determination of charm and bottom quark masses are discussed. A new and improved evaluation of the contribution from the gluon condensate $< \frac{α_s}π G^2>$ to the charm mass determination and a detailed study of potential uncertainties in the continuum cross section for $b\bar b$ production is presented, together with a study of the parametric uncertainty from the $α_s$-dependence of our results. The final results, $m_c(3 \text{GeV})=986(13) $MeV and $m_b(m_b)=4163(16) $MeV, represent, together with a closely related lattice determination $m_c(3\;{\rm GeV})=986(6) $MeV, the presently most precise determinations of these two fundamental Standard Model parameters. A critical analysis of the theoretical and experimental uncertainties is presented.

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