We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the first five moments of six event shape variables related to three-particle final states in electron-positron annihilation; the thrust, the heavy jet mass, the C-parameter, the wide and total jet broadenings and the three-to-two-jet transition parameter in the Durham algorithm Y3. The NNLO corrections to the first moment are moderate for all event shapes, while the renormalisation scale dependence of the theoretical prediction is substantially reduced compared to the previously existing NLO results. From a comparison with data from JADE and OPAL, we observe that the energy dependence of the moments of the wide jet broadening and Y3 can be largely explained without any non-perturbative power corrections, while the other observables exhibit a clear need for power-like contributions at low centre-of-mass energy.
This article gives the perturbative NNLO results for the moments of the most commonly used event shape variables associated to three-jet events in electron-positron annihilation: Thrust, heavy jet mass, wide jet broadening, total jet broadening, C parameter and the Durham three-to-two jet transition variable.
This article gives the perturbative NNLO results for the most commonly used event shape variables associated to three-jet events in electron-positron annihilation: Thrust, heavy jet mass, wide jet broadening, total jet broadening, C parameter and the Durham three-to-two jet transition variable. In addition the NNLO results for the jet rates corresponding to the Durham, Geneva, Jade-E0 and Cambridge jet algorithms are presented.
The strong coupling constant is a fundamental parameter of nature. It can be extracted from experiments measuring three-jet events in electron-positron annihilation. For this extraction precise theoretical calculations for jet rates and event shapes are needed. In this talk I will discuss the NNLO calculation for these observables.
We present a new implementation of the NNLO QCD corrections to three-jet final states and related event-shape observables in electron--positron annihilation. Our implementation is based on the antenna subtraction method, and is performed in the NNLOJET framework. The calculation improves upon earlier results by taking into account the full kinematical information on the initial state momenta, thereby allowing the event orientation to be computed to NNLO accuracy. We find the event-orientation distributions at LEP and SLC to be very robust under higher order QCD corrections.
I report on a numerical program, which can be used to calculate any infrared safe three-jet observable in electron-positron annihilation to next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant alpha_s. The results are compared to a recent calculation by another group. Numerical differences in three colour factors are discussed and explained.
I report on a numerical program, which can be used to calculate any infra-red safe two-jet observable in electron-positron annihilation to next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant alpha_s. The calculation is based on the subtraction method. The result for the two-jet cross section is compared to the literature.
The resummed transverse-momentum distribution for Higgs bosons produced via bottom-quark annihilation at the LHC is presented. Our results are obtained in the five-flavor scheme to NNLO+NNLL accuracy. We present a theoretical prediction which consistently matches the cross section at small and large transverse momenta. Theoretical uncertainties are derived from a variation of the unphysical scales entering the calculation. Their size is significantly reduced with respect to lower orders.
Precision studies of QCD at electron-positron colliders are based on measurements of event shapes and jet rates. To match the high experimental accuracy, theoretical predictions to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD are needed for a reliable interpretation of the data. We report the first calculation of NNLO corrections O(alpha_s^3) to three-jet production and related event shapes, and discuss their phenomenological impact.
We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the six most important event shape variables related to three-particle final states in electron-positron annihilation. The corrections are sizeable for all variables, however their magnitude is substantially different for different observables. We observe that the NNLO corrections yield a considerably better agreement between theory and experimental data both in shape and normalisation of the event shape distributions. The renormalisation scale dependence of the theoretical prediction is substantially reduced compared to th…
We report on a calculation of the vector current contributions to the electroweak production of top quark pairs in $e^+e^-$ annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order in Quantum Chromodynamics. Our setup is fully differential and can be used to calculate any infrared-safe observable. The real emission contributions are handled by a next-to-next-to-leading order generalization of the phase-space slicing method. We demonstrate the power of our technique by considering its application to various inclusive and exclusive observables.
We present next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections to the production of the Higgs boson in bottom quark annihilation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the five flavor scheme. We have systematically included the NNLO corrections resulting from the interference of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and QED interactions. We have investigated the infrared (IR) structure of the bottom quark form factor up to two loop level in QED and in QCD$\times$QED using K+G equation. We find that the IR poles in the form factor are controlled by the universal cusp, collinear…
We present the first determination of the strong coupling constant from the three-jet rate in e+e- annihilation at LEP, based on a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) perturbative QCD prediction. More precisely, we extract alpha_s by fitting perturbative QCD predictions at O(alpha_s^3) to data from the ALEPH experiment at LEP. Over a large range of the jet-resolution parameter ycut this observable is characterised by small non-perturbative corrections and an excellent stability under renormalisation scale variation. For the three-jet rate at ln(ycut) = -3.9 we find alpha_s(MZ) = 0.1175 +/- 0.…
We present the computation of energy-energy correlation in $e^+e^-$ collisions in the back-to-back region at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy matched with the next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative prediction. We study the effect of the fixed higher order corrections in a comparison of our results to LEP and SLC data. The next-to-next-to-leading order correction has a sizable impact on the extracted value of $α_{\mathrm S}(M_Z)$, hence its inclusion is mandatory for a precise measurement of the strong coupling using energy-energy correlation.
We present a determination of the strong coupling constant from a fit of QCD predictions for six event-shape variables, calculated at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and matched to resummation in the next-to-leading-logarithmic approximation (NLLA). These event shapes have been measured in e+e- annihilations at LEP, where the data we use have been collected by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies between 91 and 206 GeV. Compared to purely fixed order NNLO fits, we observe that the central fit values are hardly affected, but the systematic uncertainty is larger because the NLLA pa…
We present the inclusive transverse momentum distribution for Higgs bosons produced in bottom quark annihilation at the LHC. The results are obtained in the five-flavor scheme. The soft and collinear terms at small $p_T$ are resummed through NNLL accuracy and matched to the NNLO transverse momentum distribution at large $p_T$. We find that the theoretical uncertainty, derived from a variation of the unphysical scales entering the calculation, is significantly reduced with respect to lower orders.
We report work on the matching of the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation (NLLA) onto the fixed next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation for event shape variables in electron-positron annihilation. The correction of the combined NLLA+NNLO computation in the three-jet region, relevant for precision phenomenology, is small compared with pure NNLO or NLLA+NLO.
We present a subtraction scheme for computing jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in perturbative QCD. In this second part we deal with the regularization of the real-virtual contribution to the NNLO correction.
In this talk we report work on the matching of the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation (NLLA) onto the fixed next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations for event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. Furthermore we present preliminary results on the determination of the strong coupling constant obtained using NLLA+NNLO predictions and ALEPH data.
We present a subtraction scheme for computing jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in perturbative QCD. In this first part we deal with the regularization of the doubly-real contribution to the NNLO correction.
We report on a complete calculation of electroweak production of top quark pairs in $e^+e^-$ annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order in Quantum Chromodynamics. Our setup is fully differential and can be used to calculate any infrared-safe observable. Especially we calculated the next-to-next-to-leading order corrections to top-quark forward-backward asymmetry and found sizable effects. Our results show a large reduction of the theoretical uncertainties in predictions of the forward-backward asymmetry, and allow a precision determination of the top quark electroweak couplings at future $e…
We report on several methodologically different NNLO determinations of the strong coupling constant from event shapes and related observables in e+e- annihilation. The event shape distributions are analyzed within a combined framework of NNLO and NNLA resummation. We also investigate the role of hadronisation corrections, using both Monte Carlo generator predictions and analytic models to parametrise non-perturbative power corrections.
In previous articles we outlined a subtraction scheme for regularizing doubly-real emission and real-virtual emission in next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations of jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation. In order to find the NNLO correction these subtraction terms have to be integrated over the factorized unresolved phase space and combined with the two-loop corrections. In this paper we perform the integration of all one-parton unresolved subtraction terms.
This article describes the code SusHi (for "Supersymmetric Higgs") which calculates the cross sections $pp/p\bar{p}\rightarrowϕ+X$ in gluon fusion and bottom-quark annihilation in the SM and the MSSM, where $ϕ$ is any of the neutral Higgs bosons within these models. Apart from inclusive cross sections up to NNLO QCD, differential cross sections with respect to the Higgs' transverse momentum $p_T$ and (pseudo-)rapidity $y(η)$ can be calculated through NLO QCD. In case of gluon fusion, SusHi contains NLO QCD contributions from the third family of quarks and squarks, NNLO corrections due to top-q…
We study the matching of the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation (NLLA) onto the fixed next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation for event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. The resulting theoretical predictions combine all precision QCD knowledge on the distributions, and are theoretically reliable over an extended kinematical range. Compared to previously available matched NLLA+NLO and fixed order NNLO results, we observe that the effects of the combined NLLA+NNLO are small in the three-jet region, relevant for precision physics.
We present the first results on the two-loop massless QCD corrections to the four-point amplitude $b+\overline{b} \rightarrow H+H$ in the five flavor scheme, treating bottom quarks as massless. This amplitude is sensitive to the trilinear Higgs boson coupling. Our two-loop result for this amplitude constitutes of purely virtual contributions to the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD predictions for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons at the Large Hadron Collider. Using these two loop amplitudes and exploiting the universality of the soft contributions in perturbative QCD, we obtain the NNL…
A systematic method is proposed for analyzing the renormalization scheme uncertainties in the next-next-to-leading order QCD predicitions, based on a condition which eliminates schemes that give rise to large cancellations in the expression for the characteristic scheme invariant combination of the expansion coefficients. Using this method it is shown that the QCD corrections to the tau lepton decay are rather stable with respect to change of the scheme, provided that an improved formula is used, which involves numerical evaluation of the contour integral in the complex energy plane with the A…
We discuss the result with full mass dependence for the virtual NNLO QCD corrections to the W boson pair production in the quark-anti-quark annihilation channel. We also report on our progress regarding the treatment of the double-real radiative corrections which, along with the virtual-real corrections, are the other two necessary ingredients for a theoretical prediction of the total cross section for W+ W- production to NNLO accuracy.
We discuss recent results on the three-loop (next-to-next-to-leading order, NNLO) time-like splitting functions of QCD and the two-loop (NNLO) coefficient functions in one-particle inclusive e+e- annihilation. These results form the basis for extracting fragmentation functions for light and heavy flavors with NNLO accuracy that will be needed at the LHC and ILC. The two-loop calculations have been performed in Mellin space based on a new method, the main features of which we also describe briefly.
We have recently calculated the second-order QCD corrections to the forward-backward asymmetry in e+e- annihilation (hep-ph/9905424). Here we recall the results and compare them to others in the literature.
We finish the definition of a subtraction scheme for computing NNLO corrections to QCD jet cross sections. In particular, we perform the integration of the soft-type contributions to the doubly unresolved counterterms via the method of Mellin-Barnes representations. With these final ingredients in place, the definition of the scheme is complete and the computation of fully differential rates for electron-positron annihilation into two and three jets at NNLO accuracy becomes feasible.
The total inclusive cross section for charged and neutral Higgs production in heavy-quark annihilation is presented through NNLO QCD. It is shown that, aside from an overall factor, the partonic cross section is independent of the initial-state quark flavors, and that any interference terms involving two different Yukawa couplings vanish. A simple criterion for defining the central renormalization and factorization scale is proposed. Its application to the $b\bar bH$ process yields results which are compatible with the values usually adopted for this process. Remarkably, we find little variati…
We present the first determination of the strong coupling constant from a fit of next-to-next-to-leading order QCD predictions to event-shape variables, measured in $e^+e^-$ annihilations at LEP. The data have been collected by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies between 91 and 206 GeV. Compared to results of next-to-leading order fits we observe that the central fit values are lower by about 10%, with considerably reduced scatter among the results obtained with different event-shape variables. The dominant systematic uncertainty from renormalization scale variations is reduced by a …
We re-evaluate the non-perturbative contribution to the thrust distribution in $e^+e^-\to$ hadrons, in the light of the latest experimental data and the recent NNLO perturbative calculation of this quantity. By extending the calculation to NNLO+NLL accuracy, we perform the most detailed study to date of the effects of non-perturbative physics on this observable. In particular, we investigate how well a model based on a low-scale QCD effective coupling can account for such effects. We find that the difference between the improved perturbative distribution and the experimental data is consistent…
The cross section near the $t\bar t$ production threshold in $e^+e^-$ annihilation and $γγ$ collisions is discussed. The NNLO results within NRQCD are briefly overviewed.
We present a calculation of the differential two jet cross section in e^+e^- annihilation through next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant alpha_s. The calculation is performed using a new method for dealing with real radiation suggested by us recently. For the first time, the two jet event rate is computed directly, without any reference to the inclusive cross-section e^+e^- to hadrons. We also calculate the energy distribution of the leading jet in e^+e^- to 2 jets, and find significant modifications of the shape of this distribution at NNLO.
As a first step towards the application of the antenna subtraction formalism to NNLO QCD reactions with massive quarks, we determine the real radiation antenna function and its integrated counterpart for reactions of the type $S \to Q{\bar Q} q {\bar q}$, where $S$ denotes an uncolored initial state and $Q$, $q$ a massive and massless quark, respectively. We compute the corresponding integrated antenna function in terms of harmonic polylogarithms. As an application and check of our results we calculate the contribution proportional to $α_s^2 e^2_Q N_f$ to the inclusive heavy-quark pair product…
We present results for the $Z$-boson and $W$-boson transverse momentum ($p_T$) distributions for large $p_T$ at LHC and Tevatron energies. We calculate complete next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD corrections as well as soft-gluon corrections at next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) to the differential cross section. The NNLO soft-gluon contributions are derived from next-to-next-to-leading-logarithm (NNLL) resummation at two loops. We find enhancements of the $p_T$ distributions and reductions of the scale dependence when the NNLO corrections are included.
We review the theoretical ideas and tools required to arrive at a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) description of the heavy quark-antiquark production cross section in $e^+e^-$ annihilation for the case that the center of mass kinetic energy of the quarks is larger than $Λ_{QCD}$. In this case the NNLO cross section can be calculated with purely perturbative methods. We present details of the calculation and discuss two applications, the determination of the bottom quark mass from Upsilon sum rules and the top-antitop production cross section close to threshold in $e^+e^-$ annihilation.
This talk discusses recent results for next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to jet cross sections and transverse momentum distributions. The results are obtained in the NNLOJET code framework, which provides an implementation of the antenna subtraction method for the handling of infrared singular contributions at NNLO. We briefly describe the NNLOJET implementation, with particular emphasis on the construction of the real radiation phase space, which is tailored to ensure stability in all infrared sensitive regions.
We report on the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. The corrections are sizable for all variables, however the magnitude of the corrections is substantially different for different observables. We observe that inclusion of the NNLO corrections yields a considerably better agreement between theory and experimental data both in shape and normalization of the event shape distributions in the region where the perturbative result is expected to hold. A new extraction of $α_{s}$ using the event shape var…
So far, the use of different variants of dimensional regularization has been investigated extensively for two-loop virtual corrections. We extend these studies to real corrections that are also required for a complete computation of physical cross sections at next-to-next-to-leading order. As a case study we consider two-jet production in electron-positron annihilation and describe how to compute the various parts separately in different schemes. In particular, we verify that using dimensional reduction the double-real corrections are obtained simply by integrating the four-dimensional matrix …
We report on a recent calculation of the two-loop virtual QCD corrections to the W boson pair production in the quark-anti-quark-annihilation channel in the limit where all kinematical invariants are large compared to the mass of the W boson. Our result is exact up to terms suppressed by powers of the W boson mass. The infrared pole structure is in agreement with the prediction of Catani's general formalism for the singularities of two-loop QCD amplitudes.
We present a general subtraction method for computing radiative corrections to QCD jet cross sections at next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy. The steps needed to set up this subtraction scheme are the same as those used in next-to-leading order computations. However, all steps need non-trivial modifications, which we implement such that that those can be defined at any order in perturbation theory. We give a status report of the implementation of the method to computing jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation at the next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy.
We consider QCD radiative corrections to the production of colourless high-mass systems in hadron collisions. The logarithmically-enhanced contributions at small transverse momentum are treated to all perturbative orders by a universal resummation formula that depends on a single process-dependent hard factor. We show that the hard factor is directly related to the all-order virtual amplitude of the corresponding partonic process. The direct relation is universal (process independent), and it is expressed by an all-order factorization formula that we explicitly evaluate up to the next-to-next-…
We present for first time the computation at large $q_T$ (or small $b_T$) matching coefficients of Transverse Momentum Dependent Parton Distribution Function (TMDPDF) for linearly polarised to the integrated gluon distribution at next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO). The computation is performed using the modified $δ$-regulator for rapidity divergences and dimensional regularization. This TMDPDF matriz element presnts phenomenological interest in two kind of processes. The factorization of the Higgs production transverse momentum ($q_T$) distribution through gluon-gluon fusion and the quarkoni…
We give next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) predictions for the Higgs production cross section at large transverse momentum in the threshold limit. Near the partonic threshold, all radiation is either soft or collinear to the final state jet which recoils against the Higgs boson. We find that the real emission corrections are of moderate size, but that the virtual corrections are large. We discuss the origin of these corrections and give numerical predictions for the transverse-momentum spectrum. The threshold result is matched to the known NLO result and implemented in the public code PeTeR.
We discuss a modification of the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) subtraction scheme based on the residue-improved sector decomposition that reduces the number of double-real emission sectors from five to four. In particular, a sector where energies and angles of unresolved particles vanish in a correlated fashion is redundant and can be discarded. This simple observation allows us to formulate a transparent iterative subtraction procedure for double-real emission contributions, to demonstrate the cancellation of soft and collinear singularities in an explicit and (almost) process-independ…
The soft function relevant for the production of an electroweak boson (photon, W, Z or H) with large transverse momentum at a hadron collider is computed at next-to-next-to-leading order. This is the first two-loop computation of a soft function involving three light-cone directions. With the result, the threshold resummation for these processes can now be performed at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy.
I present approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order (aNNLO) transverse-momentum ($p_T$) distributions in single-top production processes. The aNNLO results are derived from next-to-next-to-leading-logarithm (NNLL) resummation of soft-gluon corrections in the differential cross section. Single-top as well as single-antitop $p_T$ distributions are shown in $t$-channel, $s$-channel, and $tW$ production for LHC energies.
In this talk we describe a procedure for isolating the infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. We use the antenna subtraction framework which has been successfully applied to the calculation of NNLO corrections to the 3-jet cross section and related event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation. Here we consider processes with coloured particles in the initial state, and in particular two-jet production at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We construct a subtraction term that describes the single an…
The transverse momentum spectra of weak gauge bosons and their ratios probe the underlying dynamics and are crucial in testing our understanding of the Standard Model. They are an essential ingredient in precision measurements, such as the $\mathrm{W}$-boson mass extraction. To fully exploit the potential of the LHC data, we compute the second-order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the inclusive-$p_\mathrm{T}^\mathrm{W}$ spectrum as well as to the ratios of spectra for $\mathrm{W}^-/\mathrm{W}^+$ and $\mathrm{Z}/\mathrm{W}$. We find that the inclusion of NNLO QCD corrections considerably improves the…
