A Study of QCD Radiation in VBF Higgs Production with Vincia and Pythia

We discuss and illustrate the properties of several parton-shower algorithms available in Pythia and Vincia, in the context of Higgs production via vector boson fusion (VBF). In particular, the distinctive colour topology of VBF processes allows to define observables sensitive to the coherent radiation pattern of additional jets. We study a set of such observables, using the Vincia sector-antenna shower as our main reference, and contrast it to Pythia's transverse-momentum-ordered DGLAP shower as well as Pythia's dipole-improved shower. We then investigate the robustness of these predictions as successive levels of higher-order perturbative matrix elements are incorporated, including next-to-leading-order matched and tree-level merged calculations, using Powheg Box and Sherpa respectively to generate the hard events.

Multiplicative-accumulative matching of NLO calculations with parton showers

We propose a new approach for combining next-to-leading order (NLO) and parton shower (PS) calculations so as to obtain three core features: (a) applicability to general showers, as with the MC@NLO and POWHEG methods; (b) positive-weight events, as with the KrkNLO and POWHEG methods; and (c) all showering attributed to the parton shower code, as with the MC@NLO and KrkNLO methods. This is achieved by using multiplicative matching in phase space regions where the shower overestimates the matrix element and accumulative (additive) matching in regions where the shower underestimates the matrix element, an approach that can be viewed as a combination of the MC@NLO and KrkNLO methods.

Azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum jets at next-to-leading order in the parton branching method

The azimuthal correlation, $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 , of high transverse momentum jets in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s = 13 TeV is studied by applying PB-TMD distributions to NLO calculations via MCatNLO together with the PB-TMD parton shower. A very good description of the cross section as a function of $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 is observed. In the back-to-back region of $${\Delta \phi _{12}}\rightarrow \pi $$ Δ ϕ 12 → π , a very good agreement is observed with the PB-TMD Set 2 distributions while significant deviations are obtained with the PB-TMD Set 1 distributions. Set 1 uses the evolution scale while Set 2 uses transverse momentum as an argument in $$\alpha _\mathrm {s}$$ α s , and the above observation therefore confirms the importance of an appropriate soft-gluon coupling in angular ordered parton evolution. The total uncertainties of the predictions are dominated by the scale uncertainties of the matrix element, while the uncertainties coming from the PB-TMDs and the corresponding PB-TMD shower are very small. The $$\Delta \phi _{12}$$ Δ ϕ 12 measurements are also compared with predictions using MCatNLO together Pythia8, illustrating the importance of details of the parton shower evolution.

Initial state radiation in the Herwig 7 angular-ordered parton shower

We study the simulation of initial-state radiation in angular-ordered parton showers in order to investigate how different interpretations of the ordering variable affect the logarithmic accuracy of such showers. This also enables us to implement a recoil scheme which is consistent between final-state and initial-state radiation. We present optimal values of the strong coupling and intrinsic transverse momentum to be used in each version of the parton shower, tuned using Z0-boson production at the LHC at 7 TeV. With these tuned showers, we perform a phenomenological study of the Drell-Yan process at several centre-of-mass energies.

Next-to-leading-order QCD corrections and parton-shower effects for weakino+squark production at the LHC

We present a calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to weakino+squark production processes at hadron colliders and their implementation in the framework of the POWHEG-BOX, a tool for the matching of fixed-order perturbative calculations with parton-shower programs. Particular care is taken in the subtraction of on-shell resonances in the real-emission corrections that have to be assigned to production processes of a different type. In order to illustrate the capabilities of our code, representative results are shown for selected SUSY parameter points in the pMSSM11. The perturbative stability of the calculation is assessed for the pp →$$ {\tilde{\upchi}}_1^0{\tilde{d}}_L $$ χ ˜ 1 0 d ˜ L process. For the squark+chargino production process pp →$$ {\upchi}_1^{-}{\tilde{u}}_L $$ χ 1 − u ˜ L distributions of the chargino’s decay products are provided with the help of the decay feature of PYTHIA 8.

Measurement of b-quark fragmentation properties in jets using the decay B± → J/ψK± in pp collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The fragmentation properties of jets containing b-hadrons are studied using charged B mesons in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during the period from 2015 to 2018. The B mesons are reconstructed using the decay of B± into J/ψK±, with the J/ψ decaying into a pair of muons. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4. The measurement determines the longitudinal and transverse momentum profiles of the reconstructed B hadrons with respect to the axes of the jets to which they are geometrically associated. These distributions are measured in intervals of the jet transverse momentum, ranging from 50 GeV to above 100 GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects and compared with several Monte Carlo predictions using different parton shower and hadronisation models. The results for the longitudinal and transverse profiles provide useful inputs to improve the description of heavy-flavour fragmentation in jets.

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.

On improving NLO merging for $$ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}\mathrm{W} $$ production

We introduce an improvement to the FxFx matrix element merging procedure for pp →$$ t\overline{t}W $$ t t ¯ W production at NLO in QCD with one and/or two additional jets. The main modification is an improved treatment of jets that are not logarithmically enhanced in the low transverse-momentum regime. We provide predictions for the inclusive cross section and the $$ t\overline{t}W $$ t t ¯ W differential distributions including parton-shower effects. Taking also the NLO EW corrections into account, this results in the most-accurate predictions for this process to date. We further proceed to include the on-shell LO decays of the $$ t\overline{t}W $$ t t ¯ W including the tree-level spin correlations within the narrow-width approximation, focusing on the multi-lepton signatures studied at the LHC. We find a ∼30% increase over the NLO QCD prediction and large non-flat K-factors to differential distributions.

The role of colour flows in matrix element computations and Monte Carlo simulations

We discuss how colour flows can be used to simplify the computation of matrix elements, and in the context of parton shower Monte Carlos with accuracy beyond leading-colour. We show that, by systematically employing them, the results for tree-level matrix elements and their soft limits can be given in a closed form that does not require any colour algebra. The colour flows that we define are a natural generalization of those exploited by existing Monte Carlos; we construct their representations in terms of different but conceptually equivalent quantities, namely colour loops and dipole graphs, and examine how these objects may help to extend the accuracy of Monte Carlos through the inclusion of subleading-colour effects. We show how the results that we obtain can be used, with trivial modifications, in the context of QCD+QED simulations, since we are able to put the gluon and photon soft-radiation patterns on the same footing. We also comment on some peculiar properties of gluon-only colour flows, and their relationships with established results in the mathematics of permutations.

Hadronic decays of Higgs boson at NNLO matched with parton shower

We present predictions for hadronic decays of the Higgs boson at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD matched with parton shower based on the POWHEG framework. Those include decays into bottom quarks with full bottom-quark mass dependence, light quarks, and gluons in the heavy top quark effective theory. Our calculations describe exclusive decays of the Higgs boson with leading logarithmic accuracy in the Sudakov region and next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy matched with parton shower in the three-jet region, with normalizations fixed to the partial width at NNLO. We estimated remaining perturbative uncertainties taking typical event shape variables as an example and demonstrated the need of future improvements on both parton shower and matrix element calculations. The calculations can be used immediately in evaluations of the physics performances of detector designs for future Higgs factories.