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Wenxiao Zhan

Publications and source records attributed to Wenxiao Zhan.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Improved Hessian Method in Global Analysis of Parton Distribution Functions

The Hessian method is widely applied in the global analysis of parton distribution functions (PDFs), which uses a set of orthogonal eigenvectors to give predictions of a physical observable. Its uncertainty is estimated based on the assumption that all physical observables can be approximately expressed as linear functions of the non-perturbative parameters in PDF. In this article, we report an improved Hessian method which takes the non-linear effects into account in the uncertainty estimation. A pseudo global analysis is designed to numerically test the new method. The non-linear uncertainties can significantly enlarge the original linear ones. Such uncertainties can be reduced with high precision data introduced into the global analysis. However, the non-linear effect could still be sizable corresponding to the current precision of the experimental measurements.

hep-ph↗

A $p_T$-ratio observable for studies of intrinsic transverse momentum of partons from Drell-Yan $p_T$ spectra

The determination of the intrinsic transverse momentum distribution of partons is central both for applications of parton shower Monte Carlo generators and for QCD studies of transverse momentum dependent (TMD) parton densities. Valuable information on this distribution is provided by experimental measurements of Drell-Yan transverse momentum $p_T$, in the region of low transverse momenta, with fine binning in $p_T$. However, such fine-binning measurements are challenging, as they require an extremely delicate control of systematic uncertainties. We suggest a $p_T$ observable based on measuring ratios between cross sections of suitably defined low-$p_T$ and high-$p_T$ regions. This observable does not rely on any dedicated partition of bins and has lower systematic uncertainties, and is shown to provide a good sensitivity to the intrinsic transverse momentum.

hep-ph↗

Coarse-grained binning in Drell-Yan transverse momentum spectra

We report a study of the determination of the intrinsic transverse momentum of partons, the intrinsic $k_T$, from the dilepton transverse momentum $p_T$ in Drell-Yan (DY) production at hadron colliders. The result shows that a good sensitivity to the intrinsic $k_T$ distribution is achieved by measuring relative ratios between the cross sections of suitably defined low-$p_T$ and high-$p_T$ regions. The study is performed through both a pseudo-data test and an extraction from measurements of the DY process by the CMS collaboration. Since the methodology does not rely on any dedicated partition of bins, this $p_T$-ratio observable requires less special treatment in very low $p_T$ regions, and propagates lower systematic uncertainties induced from unfolding or momentum migration, in contrast with previous proposals of using a fine-binning measurement of the differential cross section.

hep-ph↗