arXiv subjects

Simon Plätzer

Publications and source records attributed to Simon Plätzer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Colour Evolution and Infrared Physics

We give a complete account of how soft gluon, massless quark, evolution equations in colour space originate, from a factorization into a hard cross section density operator and a soft function encoding measurements and the projection on definite colours. We detail this formalism up to the two loop level and we demonstrate how the evolution kernels relate to infrared subtractions, and how the resolution of infrared singular regions conspires with the structure of observables the algorithm should be able to predict. The latter allows us to address evolution in different kinematic variables, including energy ordering and angular cutoffs in non-global observables. The soft factor and its evolution resembles a hadronization model including effects such as colour reconnection, and could give insight into the structure of power corrections in observables which require soft gluon evolution.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Precise predictions for same-sign W-boson scattering at the LHC

Vector-boson scattering processes are of great importance for the current run-II and future runs of the Large Hadron Collider. The presence of triple and quartic gauge couplings in the process gives access to the gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) and possible new-physics contributions there. To test any new-physics hypothesis, sound knowledge of the SM contributions is necessary, with a precision which at least matches the experimental uncertainties of existing and forthcoming measurements. In this article we present a detailed study of the vector-boson scattering process with two positively-charged leptons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In particular, we first carry out a systematic comparison of the various approximations that are usually performed for this kind of process against the complete calculation, at LO and NLO QCD accuracy. Such a study is performed both in the usual fiducial region used by experimental collaborations and in a more inclusive phase space, where the differences among the various approximations lead to more sizeable effects. Afterwards, we turn to predictions matched to parton showers, at LO and NLO: we show that on the one hand, the inclusion of NLO QCD corrections leads to more stable predictions, but on the other hand the details of the matching and of the parton-shower programs cause differences which are considerably larger than those observed at fixed order, even in the experimental fiducial region. We conclude with recommendations for experimental studies of vector-boson scattering processes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

One-loop calculations in the chirality-flow formalism

In a few recent papers we introduced the chirality-flow formalism, which was shown to make calculations of tree-level Feynman diagrams simple and transparent. Chirality flow, which is based on the spinor-helicity formalism, allows to often immediately analytically write down a tree-level Feynman diagram in terms of spinor inner products. In this paper, we argue that there is also a significant simplification of the Lorentz structure at the one-loop level, at least when using the four-dimensional formulation of the four-dimensional helicity scheme. Additionally, we find that the possible terms in a tensor decomposition of loop integrals are highly constrained, and therefore the tensor reduction procedure is simplified.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Amplitude and colour evolution

Colour evolution and parton branching at the amplitude level have become important theoretical frameworks to improve parton showers, and are algorithms in their own right: they complement shower development by resummation algorithms capable of including interference effects and subleading colour contributions at an unprecedented level. I summarize recent development in the field, focusing on soft gluon evolution, hadronization, and the CVolver framework.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

A standard convention for particle-level Monte Carlo event-variation weights

Streams of event weights in particle-level Monte Carlo event generators are a convenient and immensely CPU-efficient approach to express systematic uncertainties in phenomenology calculations, providing systematic variations on the nominal prediction within a single event sample. But the lack of a common standard for labelling these variation streams across different tools has proven to be a major limitation for event-processing tools and analysers alike. Here we propose a well-defined, extensible community standard for the naming, ordering, and interpretation of weight streams that will serve as the basis for semantically correct parsing and combination of such variations in both theoretical and experimental studies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Wigner 6j symbols for SU(N): Symbols with at least two quark-lines

We study a class of SU(N) Wigner 6j symbols involving two fundamental representations, and derive explicit formulae for all 6j symbols in this class. Our formulae express the 6j symbols in terms of the dimensions of the involved representations, and they are thereby functions of N. We view these explicit formulae as a first step towards efficiently decomposing SU(N) color structures in terms of group invariants.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

NLO Multijet Merging for Higgs Production Beyond the VBF Approximation

We present results of the simulation of electroweak Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider using both the NLO multijet merging and NLO matching frameworks provided by the general purpose event generator Herwig 7. For the simulation of the hard scattering processes, we use the HJets library for the full calculation and VBFNLO for the approximate calculation to compute the $2\to h+n$ amplitudes at tree-level with $n=2,3,4$ and at one-loop with $n=2,3$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Rings and strings: a basis for understanding subleading colour and QCD coherence beyond the two-jet limit

Guided by the colour-diagonal structure of collinear singularities, we identify a set of kinematic basis functions that are well suited to the simplification of soft gluon emission amplitudes. In particular, these basis functions, which emerge naturally in the colour flow basis, isolate the subleading colour contributions and improve the statistical convergence of the CVolver amplitude-evolution code. They also allow us to extend current angular-ordered parton showers beyond the azimuthally-averaged, two-jet limit.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Multi-Emission Kernels for Parton Branching Algorithms

We introduce a general framework to construct multi-emission kernels for parton branching algorithms at the amplitude level and across different soft and collinear limits. We highlight the connection of kinematic parameterizations and recoil schemes to the underlying power counting, and discuss in detail how soft radiation can be partitioned in between different collinear configurations beyond the single-emission picture underpinning the traditional dipole and angular ordering approaches. Our work is a vital cornerstone to build parton branching algorithms which include multiply-unresolved emissions in a fully differential way, and our construction can also be used to obtain splitting functions for probabilistic algorithms or other cross-section level objects such as subtraction terms.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Soft QCD Effects in VBS/VBF Topologies

We consider the impact of multi-parton interactions, colour reconnection and hadronization on the modeling of vector boson fusion and vector boson scattering (VBS) final states at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We investigate how the variation of the model parameters, compatible with a reasonable spread of predictions around typical tuning observables, extrapolates into the VBS phase space. We study the implications of this variation on the total uncertainty budget attached to realistic simulation of the final states in current event generator predictions. We find that the variations have a non-trivial phase space dependence and become comparable in size to the perturbative uncertainties once next-to-leading order predictions are combined with parton shower evolution.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Improvements on dipole shower colour

The dipole formalism provides a powerful framework from which parton showers can be constructed. In a recent paper, we proposed a dipole shower with improved colour accuracy and in this paper we show how it can be further improved. After an explicit check at $\mathcal{O}(α_{\mathrm{s}}^{2})$ we confirm that our original shower performs as it was designed to, i.e. inheriting its handling of angular-ordered radiation from a coherent branching algorithm. We also show how other dipole shower algorithms fail to achieve this. Nevertheless, there is an $\mathcal{O}(α_{\mathrm{s}}^{2})$ topology where it differs at sub-leading $N_{\mathrm{c}}$ from a coherent branching algorithm. This erroneous topology can contribute a leading logarithm to some observables and corresponds to emissions that are ordered in $k_t$ but not angle. We propose a simple, computationally efficient way to correct this and assign colour factors in accordance with the coherence properties of QCD to all orders in $α_{\mathrm{s}}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Challenges in Monte Carlo event generator software for High-Luminosity LHC

We review the main software and computing challenges for the Monte Carlo physics event generators used by the LHC experiments, in view of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) physics programme. This paper has been prepared by the HEP Software Foundation (HSF) Physics Event Generator Working Group as an input to the LHCC review of HL-LHC computing, which has started in May 2020.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Towards Colour Flow Evolution at Two Loops

We calculate the two-loop and one-loop/one-emission contributions required for soft gluon evolution at the next-to-leading order. The colour structures are expressed in the colour flow basis, and the kinematic dependence and loop integrals are expressed in terms of multiple cuts and phase-space-like integrals. This directly allows to use them in the resummation of non-global observables and improved parton shower algorithms beyond the leading order and beyond the leading colour limit. Within the colour flow basis it becomes apparent that correlations beyond a dipole picture emerge even in colour-diagonal elements of the virtual corrections.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Hadronization of correlated gluon fields

Following an explicit example, we present the chain of steps required for an event-by-event description of hadron production in high energy hadronic and nuclear collisions. We start from incoming nuclei, described in the Color Glass Condensate effective theory, whose collision creates the gluon fields of the glasma. Individual gluons are then sampled from the gluon fields' Husimi (smeared Wigner) distributions, and clustered using a new spacetime based algorithm. Clusters are fed into the Herwig event generator, which performs the hadronization, conserving energy and momentum. We discuss the physical implications of smearing and problems with the quasi particle picture for the studied processes. We compute spectra of charged hadrons and identified particles and their azimuthal momentum anisotropies, and address systematic uncertainties on observables, resulting from the general lack of detailed knowledge of the hadronization mechanism.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Building a consistent parton shower

Modern parton showers are built using one of two models: dipole showers or angular ordered showers. Both have distinct strengths and weaknesses. Dipole showers correctly account for wide-angle, soft gluon emissions and track the leading flows in QCD colour charge but they are known to mishandle partonic recoil. Angular ordered showers keep better track of partonic recoil and correctly include large amounts of wide-angle, soft physics but azimuthal averaging means they are known to mishandle some correlations. In this paper, we derive both approaches from the same starting point; linking our understanding of the two showers. This insight allows us to construct a new dipole shower that has all the strengths of a standard dipole shower together with those of an angular ordered shower. We show that this new approach corrects the next-to-leading-log errors previously observed in parton showers and improves their sub-leading-colour accuracy.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

HL-LHC Computing Review: Common Tools and Community Software

Common and community software packages, such as ROOT, Geant4 and event generators have been a key part of the LHC's success so far and continued development and optimisation will be critical in the future. The challenges are driven by an ambitious physics programme, notably the LHC accelerator upgrade to high-luminosity, HL-LHC, and the corresponding detector upgrades of ATLAS and CMS. In this document we address the issues for software that is used in multiple experiments (usually even more widely than ATLAS and CMS) and maintained by teams of developers who are either not linked to a particular experiment or who contribute to common software within the context of their experiment activity. We also give space to general considerations for future software and projects that tackle upcoming challenges, no matter who writes it, which is an area where community convergence on best practice is extremely useful.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2020

Parton-shower effects in Higgs production via Vector-Boson Fusion

We present a systematic investigation of parton-shower and matching perturbative uncertainties for Higgs-boson production via vector-boson fusion. To this end we employ different generators at next-to-leading order QCD accuracy matched with shower Monte Carlo programs, PYTHIA8, and HERWIG7, and a next-to-next-to-leading order QCD calculation. We thoroughly analyse the intrinsic sources of uncertainty within each generator, and then compare predictions among the different tools using the respective recommended setups. Within typical vector-boson fusion cuts, the resulting uncertainties on observables that are accurate to next-to-leading order are at the 10% level for rates and even smaller for shapes. For observables sensitive to extra radiation effects uncertainties of about 20% are found. We furthermore show how a specific recoil scheme is needed when PYTHIA8 is employed, in order not to encounter unphysical enhancements for these observables. We conclude that for vector-boson fusion processes an assessment of the uncertainties associated with simulation at next-to-leading order matched to parton showers based only on the variation of renormalisation, factorisation and shower scales systematically underestimates their true size.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Resummation and simulation of soft gluon effects beyond leading colour

We present first results of resumming soft gluon effects in a simulation of high energy collisions beyond the leading-colour approximation. We work to all orders in QCD perturbation theory using a new parton branching algorithm. This amplitude evolution algorithm resembles a parton shower that is able to systematically include colour-suppressed terms. We find that colour suppressed terms can significantly contribute to jet veto cross sections.

hep-ph↗