Photon and leptons induced processes at the LHC

We study a few basic photon- and lepton-initiated processes at the LHC which can be computed using the recently developed photon and lepton parton densities. First, we consider the production of a massive scalar particle initiated by lepton-antilepton annihilation and photon-photon fusion as representative examples of searches of exotic particles. Then we study lepton-lepton scattering, since this Standard-Model process may be observable at the LHC. We examine these processes at leading and next-to-leading order and, using the POWHEG method, we match our calculations to parton shower programs that implement the required lepton or photon initial-states. We assess the typical size of cross-sections and their uncertainties and discuss the preferred choices for the factorization scale. These processes can also be computed starting directly from the lepto-production hadronic tensor, leading to a result where some collinear-enhanced QED corrections are missing, but all strong corrections are included. Thus, we are in the unique position to perform a comparison of results obtained via the factorization approach to a calculation that does not have strong corrections. This is particularly relevant in the case of lepton-scattering, that is more abundant at lower energies where it is affected by larger strong corrections. We thus compute this process also with the hadronic-tensor method, and compare the results with those obtained with POWHEG. Finally, for some lepton-lepton scattering processes, we compare the size of the signal to the main quark-induced background, which is double Drell-Yan production, and outline a preliminary search strategy to enhance the signal to background ratio.

A Guide to Light-Cone PDFs from Lattice QCD: An Overview of Approaches, Techniques, and Results

Within the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the rich structure of hadrons can be quantitatively characterized, among others, using a basis of universal nonperturbative functions: parton distribution functions (PDFs), generalized parton distributions (GPDs), transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs), and distribution amplitudes (DAs). For more than half a century, there has been a joint experimental and theoretical effort to obtain these partonic functions. However, the complexity of the strong interactions has placed severe limitations, and first-principle information on these distributions was extracted mostly from their moments computed in Lattice QCD. Recently, breakthrough ideas changed the landscape and several approaches were proposed to access the distributions themselves on the lattice. In this paper, we review in considerable detail approaches directly related to partonic distributions. We highlight a recent idea proposed by X. Ji on extracting quasidistributions that spawned renewed interest in the whole field and sparked the largest amount of numerical studies within Lattice QCD. We discuss theoretical and practical developments, including challenges that had to be overcome, with some yet to be handled. We also review numerical results, including a discussion based on evolving understanding of the underlying concepts and the theoretical and practical progress. Particular attention is given to important aspects that validated the quasidistribution approach, such as renormalization, matching to light-cone distributions, and lattice techniques. In addition to a thorough discussion of quasidistributions, we consider other approaches: hadronic tensor, auxiliary quark methods, pseudodistributions, OPE without OPE, and good lattice cross-sections. In the last part of the paper, we provide a summary and prospects of the field, with emphasis on the necessary conditions to obtain results with controlled uncertainties.

Lattice calculation of hadronic tensor of the nucleon

We report an attempt to calculate the deep inelastic scattering structure functions from the hadronic tensor calculated on the lattice. We used the Backus-Gilbert reconstruction method to address the inverse Laplace transformation for the analytic continuation from the Euclidean to the Minkowski space.

Single and double diffractive dissociation and the problem of extraction of the proton–Pomeron cross-section

Diffractive dissociation processes are analyzed in the framework of covariant reggeization. We have considered the general form of hadronic tensor and its asymptotic behavior for [Formula: see text] in the case of conserved tensor currents before reggeization. Resulting expressions for differential cross-sections of single dissociation (SD) process [Formula: see text], double dissociation (DD) [Formula: see text] and for the proton–Pomeron cross-section are given in detail, and corresponding problems of the approach are discussed.