arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S. Catani.
We study the infrared behaviour of tree-level QCD amplitudes and we derive infrared-factorization formulae that are valid at any perturbative order. We explicitly compute all the universal infrared factors that control the singularities in the various soft and/or collinear limits at O(as^2).
We compute the effects of soft-gluon resummation, at the next-to-leading-logarithmic level, in the fixed-target hadroproduction cross section for prompt photons. We find in general that the corrections to the fixed next-to-leading-order results are large for large renormalization scales, and small for small scales. This leads to a significant reduction of the scale dependence of the results for most experimental configurations of interest. We compare our results to the recent measurements by the E706 and UA6 collaborations.
We consider the singular behaviour of tree-level QCD amplitudes when the momenta of three partons become simultaneously parallel. We discuss the universal factorization formula that controls the singularities of the multiparton matrix elements in this collinear limit and present the explicit expressions of the corresponding splitting functions. The results fully include spin (azimuthal) correlations up to ${\cal O}(\as^2)$. In the case of spin-averaged splitting functions we confirm similar results obtained by Campbell and Glover.
We present the explicit expressions for the resummation of large-x Sudakov effects in the transverse-energy distribution of prompt-photons produced in hadronic collisions, to next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) accuracy. Fragmentation processes do not contribute to the Sudakov resummation at NLL level. In Mellin space, the resummed radiative factor factorizes in the product of independent radiators for the two initial and the one final coloured partons appearing in the Born process, times a simple factor describing the soft-gluon interferences between initial and final states. The formulae are given in terms of Mellin moments, and can be used for phenomenological applications using standard techniques for the inverse-Mellin transforms. The calculations presented in this work, when added to the existing works on DY and DIS production, complete the theoretical ground-work necessary to carry out global fits of parton densities with a uniform NLL accuracy in the large-x region.
We study the production of isolated photons in $e^+e^-$ annihilation and give the proof of the all-order factorization of the collinear singularities. These singularities are absorbed in the standard fragmentation functions of partons into a photon, while the effects of the isolation are consistently included in the short-distance cross section. We compute this cross section at order $\as$ and show that it contains large double logarithms of the isolation parameters. We explain the physical origin of these logarithms and discuss the possibility to resum them to all orders in $\as$.
We compute the effect of soft-gluon resummation, at the next-to-leading-logarithmic level, in the hadroproduction cross-section for heavy flavours. Applications to top, bottom and charm total cross-sections are discussed. We find in general that the corrections to the fixed next-to-leading-order results are larger for larger renormalization scales, and small, or even negative, for smaller scales. This leads to a significant reduction of the scale-dependence of the results, for most experimental configurations of interest.
We give perturbative predictions for the distribution of the $C$-Parameter event shape variable in $e^+e^-$ annihilation, including resummation of large logarithms in the two-jet (small-$C$) region, matched to next-to-leading order results. We also estimate the leading non-perturbative power correction and make a preliminary comparison with experimental data.
We show that QCD observables defined as infrared- and collinear-safe, according to the usual Sterman-Weinberg criteria, can nevertheless be infinite at accessible points inside phase space, to any finite order of perturbation theory. Infrared finiteness is restored after resummation of divergent terms to all orders. The resulting characteristic structure, which we call a Sudakov shoulder, represents an interesting new class of QCD predictions.
We compute the effects of soft gluon resummation for the production of high mass systems in hadronic collisions. We carefully analyse the growth of the perturbative expansion coefficients of the resummation formula. We propose an expression consistent with the known leading and next-to-leading resummation results, in which the coefficients grow much less than factorially. We apply our formula to Drell--Yan pair production, heavy flavour production, and the production of high invariant mass jet pairs in hadronic collisions. We find that, with our formula, resummation effects become important only fairly close to the threshold region. In the case of heavy flavour production we find that resummation effects are small in the experimental configurations of practical interest.
We reexamine the top quark production cross section at the Tevatron and LHC, in the light of recent progress on the resummation of logarithmic soft gluon corrections. We find that resummation effects are much smaller than previously thought. We also compute Coulombic threshold effects, and find them negligible. We update the discussion of uncertainties due to scale dependence, the value of the strong coupling constant, and the parton density parametrization. Our current best estimate of the top production cross section at the Tevatron and its error is $σ(\mt=175\,{\rm GeV})=4.75{+0.73\atop-0.62}$.
We discuss the role of sub-leading corrections to deep inelastic processes in the small-x regime, and report recent results on the calculation of coefficient functions and quark anomalous dimensions. *To appear in the proceedings of the workshop QCD94, Montpellier, July '94.
The perturbative QCD approach to quarkonium decay into a photon and hadrons is reconsidered. It is shown that a consistent treatment within perturbative QCD calls for the introduction of a fragmentation contribution which has been neglected so far. The ensuing phenomenological implications are discussed, and, in particular, the possibility of measuring the gluon fragmentation function of the photon is addressed. *To appear in the proceedings of the workshop QCD94, Montpellier, July '94.
High-energy factorization in QCD is investigated beyond leading order and its relationship to the factorization theorem of mass singularities is established to any collinear accuracy. Flavour non-singlet observables are shown to be regular at small x order by order in perturbation theory. In the singlet sector, we derive the relevant master equations for the space-like evolution of gluons and quarks. Their solution enables us to sum next-to-leading corrections to the small-x behaviour of quark anomalous dimensions and deep inelastic scattering coefficient functions. We present results in both MSbar and DIS factorization schemes.