Search

The production of four bottom quarks is an important benchmark channel for Higgs analyses and searches for new physics at the LHC. We report on the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the process pp -> b anti-b b anti-b + X with the HELAC-NLO automated framework, and present results for inclusive cross sections and differential distributions. We discuss the impact of the higher-order corrections and, in particular, the effect of the bottom quark mass. In addition, we provide an estimate of the theoretical uncertainty from the variation of the renormalisation and factorisation scales and the parton distribution functions. The results are obtained with a new subtraction formalism for real radiation at next-to-leading order, implemented in the HELAC-DIPOLES package., 13 pages, 6 tables, 4 figures

Vbfnlo is a flexible parton level Monte Carlo program for the simulation of vector boson fusion (VBF), double and triple vector boson (plus jet) production in hadronic collisions at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the strong coupling constant, as well as Higgs boson plus two jet production via gluon fusion at the one-loop level. This note briefly describes the main additional features and processes that have been added in the new release -- Vbfnlo Version 2.6.0. At NLO QCD diboson production (W\gamma, WZ, ZZ, Z\gamma and \gamma\gamma), same-sign W pair production via vector boson fusion and the process W\gamma\gamma j have been implemented (for which one-loop tensor integrals up to six-point functions are included). In addition, gluon induced diboson production can be studied separately at the leading order (one-loop) level. The diboson processes WW, WZ and W\gamma can be run with anomalous gauge boson couplings, and anomalous couplings between a Higgs and a pair of gauge bosons is included in WW, ZZ, Z\gamma and \gamma\gamma diboson production. The code has also been extended to include anomalous gauge boson couplings for single vector boson production via VBF, and a spin-2 model has been implemented for diboson pair production via vector boson fusion., Comment: 14 pages, 6 tables; new code available at http://www-itp.particle.uni-karlsruhe.de/vbfnlo/

VBFNLO is a flexible parton level Monte Carlo program for the simulation of vector boson fusion (VBF), QCD induced single and double vector boson production plus two jets, and double and triple vector boson production (plus jet) in hadronic collisions at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the strong coupling constant, as well as Higgs boson plus two jet production via gluon fusion at the one-loop level. For the new version -- Version 2.7.0 -- several major enhancements have been included into VBFNLO. The following new production processes have been added: $W\gamma jj$ in VBF, $HHjj$ in VBF, $W$, $Wj$, $WH$, $WHj$, $pp\to \text{Spin-2}jj$ in VBF (with $\text{Spin-2}\to WW/ZZ\to\text{leptons}$) and the QCD induced processes $WZjj$, $W\gamma jj$, $W^\pm W^\pm jj$ and $Wjj$ production. The implementation of anomalous gauge boson couplings has been extended to all triboson and VBF $VVjj$ processes, with an enlarged set of operators yielding anomalous couplings. Finally, semileptonic decay modes of the vector bosons are now available for many processes, including $VVjj$ in VBF, $VVV$ and $VV\gamma$ production., Comment: 83 pages, 23 tables; new code available at http://www.itp.kit.edu/vbfnlo/; v3: update to version 2.7.0

VBFNLO is a fully flexible parton level Monte Carlo program for the simulation of vector boson fusion, double and triple vector boson production in hadronic collisions at next-to-leading order in the strong Coupling constant. VBFNLO includes Higgs and vector boson decays with full spin correlations and all off-shell effects. In addition, VBFNLO implements CP-even and CP-odd Higgs boson via gluon fusion, associated with two jets, at the leading-order one-loop level with the full top- and bottom-quark mass dependence in a generic two-Higgs-doublet model. A variety of effects arising from beyond the Standard Model physics are implemented for selected processes. This includes anomalous couplings of Higgs and vector bosons and a Warped Higgsless extra dimension model. The program offers the possibility to generate Les Houches Accord event files for all processes available at leading order. Program summary Program title: VBFNLO Catalogue identifier: AEDO_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEDO_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GPL version 2 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 339218 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 2620847 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran, parts in C++ Computer: All Operating system: Linux, should also work on other systems Classification: 11.1, 11.2 External routines: Optionally Les Houches Accord PDF Interface library and the GNU Scientific library Nature of problem: To resolve the large scale dependence inherent in leading order calculations and to quantify the cross section error induced by uncertainties in the determination of parton distribution functions, it is necessary to include NLO corrections. Moreover, whenever stringent cuts are required on decay products and/or identified jets the question arises whether the scale dependence and a k-factor, defined as the ratio of NLO to LO cross section, determined for the inclusive production cross sections are valid for the search region one is interested in. Solution method: The problem is best addressed by implementing the one-loop QCD corrections in a fully flexible NLO parton-level Monte Carlo program, where arbitrary cuts can be specified as well as various scale choices. In addition, any currently available parton distribution function set can be used through the LHAPDF library. Running time: Depending on the process studied. Usually from minutes to hours, The research presented in this article was supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via the Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio SFB/TR-9 “Computational Particle Physics” and the Graduiertenkolleg “High Energy Physics and Particle Astrophysics”, and in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY05-51164. F. Campanario acknowledges a postdoctoral fellowship of the Generalitat Valenciana (Beca Postdoctoral d‘Excelléncia) and S. Plätzer support from the Landesgraduiertenförderung Baden-Württemberg. M. Worek was funded in part by the RTN European Programme MRTN-CT-2006-035505 HEPTOOLS – Tools and Precision Calculations for Physics Discoveries at Colliders and B. Jäger by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, contract HA-101 (“Physics at the Terascale”).