arXiv subjects

Stefano Forte

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Forte.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Parton distributions with LHC data

We present the first determination of parton distributions of the nucleon at NLO and NNLO based on a global data set which includes LHC data: NNPDF2.3. Our data set includes, besides the deep inelastic, Drell-Yan, gauge boson production and jet data already used in previous global PDF determinations, all the relevant LHC data for which experimental systematic uncertainties are currently available: ATLAS and LHCb W and Z lepton rapidity distributions from the 2010 run, CMS W electron asymmetry data from the 2011 run, and ATLAS inclusive jet cross-sections from the 2010 run. We introduce an improved implementation of the FastKernel method which allows us to fit to this extended data set, and also to adopt a more effective minimization methodology. We present the NNPDF2.3 PDF sets, and compare them to the NNPDF2.1 sets to assess the impact of the LHC data. We find that all the LHC data are broadly consistent with each other and with all the older data sets included in the fit. We present predictions for various standard candle cross-sections, and compare them to those obtained previously using NNPDF2.1, and specifically discuss the impact of ATLAS electroweak data on the determination of the strangeness fraction of the proton. We also present collider PDF sets, constructed using only data from HERA, Tevatron and LHC, but find that this data set is neither precise nor complete enough for a competitive PDF determination.

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arXiv2012

The threshold region for Higgs production in gluon fusion

We provide a quantitative determination of the effective partonic kinematics for Higgs production in gluon fusion in terms of the collider energy at the LHC. We use the result to assess, as a function of the Higgs mass, whether the large top mass approximation is adequate and whether Sudakov resummation is advantageous. We argue that our results hold to all perturbative orders. Based on it, we conclude that the full inclusion of finite top mass corrections is likely to be important for accurate phenomenology for a light Higgs with m_H ~ 125 GeV at the LHC with sqrt{s} = 14 TeV.

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arXiv2012

Unbiased Polarised Parton Distribution Functions and their Uncertainties

We present preliminary results on the determination of spin-dependent, or polarised, Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) from all relevant inclusive polarised DIS data. The analysis is performed within the NNPDF approach, which provides a faithful and statistically sound representation of PDFs and their uncertainties. We describe how the NNPDF methodology has been extended to the polarised case, and compare our results with other recent polarised parton sets. We show that polarised PDF uncertainties can be sizeably underestimated in standard determinations, most notably for the gluon.

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arXiv2012

Soft gluon resummation of Drell-Yan rapidity distributions: theory and phenomenology

We examine critically the theoretical underpinnings and phenomenological implications of soft gluon (threshold) resummation of rapidity distributions at a hadron collider, taking Drell-Yan production at the Tevatron and the LHC as a reference test case. First, we show that in perturbative QCD soft gluon resummation is necessary whenever the partonic (rather the hadronic) center-of-mass energy is close enough to threshold, and we provide tools to assess when resummation is relevant for a given process. Then, we compare different prescriptions for handling the divergent nature of the series of resummed perturbative corrections, specifically the minimal and Borel prescriptions. We assess the intrinsic ambiguities of resummed results, both due to the asymptotic nature of their perturbative expansion, and to the treatment of subleading terms. Turning to phenomenology, we introduce a fast and accurate method for the implementation of resummation with the minimal and Borel prescriptions using an expansion on a basis of Chebyshev polynomials. We then present results for W and Z production as well as both high- and low-mass dilepton pairs at the LHC, and show that soft gluon resummation effects are generally comparable in size to NNLO corrections, but sometimes affected by substantial ambiguities.

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arXiv2012

Threshold resummation in SCET vs. perturbative QCD: an analytic comparison

We compare threshold resummation in QCD, as performed using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), to the standard perturbative QCD formalism based on factorization and resummation of Mellin moments of partonic cross-sections. We consider various forms of the SCET result, which correspond to different choices of the soft scale mu_s that characterizes this approach. We derive a master formula that relates the SCET resummation to the QCD result for any choice of mu_s. We then use it first, to show that if SCET resummation is performed in N-Mellin moment space by suitable choice of mu_s it is equivalent to the standard perturbative approach. Next, we show that if SCET resummation is performed by choosing for mu_s a partonic momentum variable, the perturbative result for partonic resummed cross-sections is again reproduced, but like its standard perturbative counterpart it is beset by divergent behaviour at the endpoint. Finally, using the master formula we show that when mu_s is chosen as a hadronic momentum variable the SCET and standard approach are related through a multiplicative (convolutive) factor, which contains the dependence on the Landau pole and associated divergence. This factor depends on the luminosity in a non-universal way; it lowers by one power of log the accuracy of the resummed result, but it is otherwise subleading if one assumes the luminosity not to contain logarithmically enhanced terms. Therefore, the SCET approach can be turned into a prescription to remove the Landau pole from the perturbative result, but the price to pay for this is the reduction by one logarithmic power of the accuracy at each order and the need to make assumptions on the parton luminosity.

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arXiv2011

Precision NNLO determination of alpha_s(M_Z) using an unbiased global parton set

We determine the strong coupling alpha_s at NNLO in perturbative QCD using the global dataset input to the NNPDF2.1 NNLO parton fit: data from neutral and charged current deep-inelastic scattering, Drell-Yan, vector boson production and inclusive jets. We find alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1173+- 0.0007 (stat), where the statistical uncertainty comes from the underlying data and uncertainties due to the analysis procedure are negligible. We show that the distribution of alpha_s values preferred by different experiments in the global fit is statistically consistent, without need for rescaling uncertainties by a "tolerance" factor. We show that if deep-inelastic data only are used, the best-fit value of alpha_s is somewhat lower, but consistent within one sigma with the global determination. We estimate the dominant theoretical uncertainty, from higher orders corrections, to be Delta alpha_s (pert) ~ 0.0009.

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arXiv2011

Unbiased global determination of parton distributions and their uncertainties at NNLO and at LO

We present a determination of the parton distributions of the nucleon from a global set of hard scattering data using the NNPDF methodology at LO and NNLO in perturbative QCD, thereby generalizing to these orders the NNPDF2.1 NLO parton set. Heavy quark masses are included using the so-called FONLL method, which is benchmarked here at NNLO. We demonstrate the stability of PDFs upon inclusion of NNLO corrections, and we investigate the convergence of the perturbative expansion by comparing LO, NLO and NNLO results. We show that the momentum sum rule can be tested with increasing accuracy at LO, NLO and NNLO. We discuss the impact of NNLO corrections on collider phenomenology, specifically by comparing to recent LHC data. We present PDF determinations using a range of values of alpha_s, m_c and m_b. We also present PDF determinations based on various subsets of the global dataset, show that they generally lead to less accurate phenomenology, and discuss the possibility of future PDF determinations based on collider data only.

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arXiv2011

Impact of Heavy Quark Masses on Parton Distributions and LHC Phenomenology

We present a determination of the parton distributions of the nucleon from a global set of hard scattering data using the NNPDF methodology including heavy quark mass effects: NNPDF2.1. In comparison to the previous NNPDF2.0 parton determination, the dataset is enlarged to include deep--inelastic charm structure function data. We implement the FONLL-A general-mass scheme in the FastKernel framework and assess its accuracy by comparison to the Les Houches heavy quark benchmarks. We discuss the impact on parton distributions of the treatment of the heavy quark masses, and we provide a determination of the uncertainty in the parton distributions due to uncertainty in the masses. We assess the impact of these uncertainties on LHC observables by providing parton sets with different values of the charm and bottom quark masses. Finally, we construct and discuss parton sets with a fixed number of flavours.

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arXiv2011

Reweighting and Unweighting of Parton Distributions and the LHC W lepton asymmetry data

We develop in more detail our reweighting method for incorporating new datasets in parton fits based on a Monte Carlo representation of PDFs. After revisiting the derivation of the reweighting formula, we show how to construct an unweighted PDF replica set which is statistically equivalent to a given reweighted set. We then use reweighting followed by unweighting to test the consistency of the method, specifically by verifying that results do not depend on the order in which new data are included in the fit via reweighting. We apply the reweighting method to study the impact of LHC W lepton asymmetry data on the NNPDF2.1 set. We show how these data reduce the PDF uncertainties of light quarks in the medium and small x region, providing the first solid constraints on PDFs from LHC data.

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arXiv2011

Parton distributions: determining probabilities in a space of functions

We discuss the statistical properties of parton distributions within the framework of the NNPDF methodology. We present various tests of statistical consistency, in particular that the distribution of results does not depend on the underlying parametrization and that it behaves according to Bayes' theorem upon the addition of new data. We then study the dependence of results on consistent or inconsistent datasets and present tools to assess the consistency of new data. Finally we estimate the relative size of the PDF uncertainty due to data uncertainties, and that due to the need to infer a functional form from a finite set of data.

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arXiv2011

Reweighting NNPDFs: the W lepton asymmetry

We present a method for incorporating the information contained in new datasets into an existing set of parton distribution functions without the need for refitting. The method involves reweighting the ensemble of parton densities through the computation of the chi-square to the new dataset. We explain how reweighting may be used to assess the impact of any new data or pseudodata on parton densities and thus on their predictions. We show that the method works by considering the addition of inclusive jet data to a DIS+DY fit, and comparing to the refitted distribution. We then use reweighting to determine the impact of recent high statistics lepton asymmetry data from the D0 experiment on the NNPDF2.0 parton set. We find that the D0 inclusive muon and electron data are perfectly compatible with the rest of the data included in the NNPDF2.0 analysis and impose additional constraints on the large-x d/u ratio. The more exclusive D0 electron datasets are however inconsistent both with the other datasets and among themselves, suggesting that here the experimental uncertainties have been underestimated.

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arXiv2011

On the Impact of NMC Data on NLO and NNLO Parton Distributions and Higgs Production at the Tevatron and the LHC

We discuss the impact of the treatment of NMC structure function data on parton distributions in the context of the NNPDF2.1 global PDF determination at NLO and NNLO. We show that the way these data are treated, and even their complete removal, has no effect on parton distributions at NLO, and at NNLO has an effect which is below one sigma. In particular, the Higgs production cross-section in the gluon fusion channel is very stable.

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arXiv2011

High energy resummation for rapidity distributions

We discuss the generalisation of high-energy resummation to rapidity distributions to leading logarithmic accuracy. We test our procedure applying it to Higgs production in gluon-gluon fusion both with finite top mass and in the infinite mass limit. We check that they reproduce the known results at fixed order and we estimate finite top mass corrections to the NLO distribution.

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arXiv2011

Precision determination of alpha_s using an unbiased global NLO parton set

We determine the strong coupling alpha_s from a next-to-leading order analysis of processes used for the NNPDF2.1 parton determination, which includes data from neutral and charged current deep-inelastic scattering, Drell-Yan and inclusive jet production. We find alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1191+-0.0006 (exp), where the uncertainty includes all statistical and systematic experimental uncertainties, but not purely theoretical uncertainties. We study the dependence of the results on the dataset, by providing further determinations based respectively on deep-inelastic data only, and on HERA data only. The deep-inelastic fit gives the consistent result alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1177+-0.0009(exp), but the result of the HERA-only fit is only marginally consistent. We provide evidence that individual data subsets can have runaway directions due to poorly determined PDFs, thus suggesting that a global dataset is necessary for a reliable determination.

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arXiv2011

Small x resummation of rapidity distributions: the case of Higgs production

We provide a method for the all order computation of small x contributions at the leading logarithmic level to cross-sections which are differential in rapidity. The method is based on a generalization to rapidity distributions of the high energy (or k_T) factorization theorem hitherto proven for inclusive cross-sections. We apply the method to Higgs production in gluon-gluon fusion, both with finite top mass and in the infinite mass limit: in both cases, we determine all-order resummed expressions, as well as explicit expressions for the leading small x terms up to NNLO. We use our result to construct an explicit approximate analytic expression of the finite-mass NLO rapidity distribution and an estimate of finite-mass corrections at NNLO.

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arXiv2011

The PDF4LHC Working Group Interim Report

This document is intended as a study of benchmark cross sections at the LHC (at 7 TeV) at NLO using modern parton distribution functions currently available from the 6 PDF fitting groups that have participated in this exercise. It also contains a succinct user guide to the computation of PDFs, uncertainties and correlations using available PDF sets. A companion note, also submitted to the archive, provides an interim summary of the current recommendations of the PDF4LHC working group for the use of parton distribution functions and of PDF uncertainties at the LHC, for cross section and cross section uncertainty calculations.

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arXiv2011

The PDF4LHC Working Group Interim Recommendations

This note provides an interim summary of the current recommendations of the PDF4LHC working group for the use of parton distribution functions (PDFs) and of PDF uncertainties at the LHC, for cross section and cross section uncertainty calculations. It also contains a succinct user guide to the computation of PDF uncertainties and correlations using available PDF sets. A companion note (the PDF4LHC Working Group Interim Report) summarizes predictions for benchmark cross sections at the LHC (7 TeV) at NLO using modern PDFs currently available from 6 PDF fitting groups.

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arXiv2010

Parton distributions at the dawn of the LHC

We review basic ideas and recent developments on the determination of the parton substructure of the nucleon, in view of applications to precision hadron collider physics. We review the way information on parton distributions (PDFs) is extracted from the data exploiting QCD factorization, and discuss the current main two approaches to parton determination (Hessian and Monte Carlo) and their use in conjunction with different kinds of parton parametrization. We summarize the way different physical processes can be used to constrain different aspects of PDFs. We discuss the meaning, determination and use of parton uncertainties. We briefly summarize the current state of the art on PDFs for LHC physics.

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