Search

We provide state-of-the-art precision QCD predictions for the fiducial $W$ and $Z$ boson transverse momentum spectra at the LHC at N$^3$LL$'$ and approximate N$^4$LL in resummed perturbation theory, matched to available $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ fixed-order results. Our predictions consistently combine all information from across the spectrum in a unified way, ranging from the nonperturbative region of small transverse momenta to the fixed-order tail, with an emphasis on estimating the magnitude of residual perturbative uncertainties, and in particular of those related to the matching. Parametric uncertainties related to the strong coupling, the collinear PDFs, and the nonperturbative transverse momentum-dependent (TMD) dynamics are studied in detail. To assess the latter, we explicitly demonstrate how the full complexity of flavor and Bjorken $x$-dependent TMD dynamics can be captured by a single, effective nonperturbative function for the resonant production of any given vector boson at a given collider. We point out that the cumulative $p_T^Z$ cross section at the level of precision enabled by our predictions provides strong constraining power for PDF determinations at full N$^3$LO., Comment: 51 pages + appendices and references, 19 figures, 6 tables

The transverse momentum-dependent fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) of heavy (bottom and charm) quarks, which we recently introduced, are universal building blocks that enter predictions for a large number of observables involving final-state heavy quarks or hadrons. They enable the extension of fixed-order subtraction schemes to quasi-collinear limits, and are of particular interest in their own right as probes of the nonperturbative dynamics of hadronization. In this paper we calculate all TMD FFs involving heavy quarks and the associated TMD matrix element in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET) to next-to-leading order in the strong interaction. Our results confirm the renormalization properties, large-mass, and small-mass consistency relations predicted in our earlier work. We also derive and confirm a prediction for the large-$z$ behavior of the heavy-quark TMD FF by extending, for the first time, the formalism of joint resummation to capture quark mass effects in heavy-quark fragmentation. Our final results in position space agree with those of a recent calculation by another group that used a highly orthogonal organization of singularities in the intermediate momentum-space steps, providing a strong independent cross check. As an immediate application, we present the complete quark mass dependence of the energy-energy correlator (EEC) in the back-to-back limit at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s)$., Comment: 34 pages + appendices and references, 5 figures; v2: corrected secondary mass effects in Sec. 6

The heavy jet mass event shape has large perturbative logarithms near the leading order kinematic threshold at $\rho = \frac{1}{3}$. Catani and Webber named these logarithms Sudakov shoulders and resummed them at double-logarithmic level. A resummation to next-to-leading logarithmic level was achieved recently. Here, we extend the resummation using an effective field theory framework to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order and show how to combine it with the resummation of dijet logarithms. We also solve the open problem of an unphysical singularity in the resummed momentum space distribution, in a way similar to how it is resolved in the Drell-Yan $q_T$ spectrum: through a careful analysis of the kinematics and scale-setting in position space. The heavy jet mass Sudakov shoulder is the first observable that does not involve transverse momentum for which position space resummation is critical. These advances may lead to a more precise extraction of the strong coupling constant from $e^+ e^-$ data., Comment: 33 pages + appendices, 10 figures

We initiate the study of transverse momentum-dependent (TMD) fragmentation functions for heavy quarks, demonstrate their factorization in terms of novel nonperturbative matrix elements in heavy-quark effective theory (HQET), and prove new TMD sum rules that arise from heavy-quark spin symmetry. We discuss the phenomenology of heavy-quark TMD FFs at $B$ factories and find that the Collins effect, in contrast to claims in the literature, is not parametrically suppressed by the heavy-quark mass. We further calculate all TMD parton distribution functions for the production of heavy quarks from polarized gluons within the nucleon and use our results to demonstrate the potential of the future EIC to resolve TMD heavy-quark fragmentation in semi-inclusive DIS, complementing the planned EIC program to use heavy quarks as probes of gluon distributions., Comment: 42 pages + references, 7 figures; v2: corrected matching for heavy-quark Boer-Mulders function, journal version

We outline the physics opportunities provided by the Electron Ion Collider (EIC). These include the study of the parton structure of the nucleon and nuclei, the onset of gluon saturation, the production of jets and heavy flavor, hadron spectroscopy and tests of fundamental symmetries. We review the present status and future challenges in EIC theory that have to be addressed in order to realize this ambitious and impactful physics program, including how to engage a diverse and inclusive workforce. In order to address these many-fold challenges, we propose a coordinated effort involving theory groups with differing expertise is needed. We discuss the scientific goals and scope of such an EIC Theory Alliance., Comment: 44 pages, ReVTeX, White Paper on EIC Theory Alliance

We propose an observable $q_*$ sensitive to transverse momentum dependence (TMD) in $e N \to e h X$, with $q_*/E_N$ defined purely by lab-frame angles. In 3D measurements of confinement and hadronization this resolves the crippling issue of accurately reconstructing small transverse momentum $P_{hT}$. We prove factorization for $\mathrm{d} \sigma_h / \mathrm{d}q_*$ for $q_*\ll Q$ with standard TMD functions, enabling $q_*$ to substitute for $P_{hT}$. A double-angle reconstruction method is given which is exact to all orders in QCD for $q_*\ll Q$. $q_*$ enables an order-of-magnitude improvement in the expected experimental resolution at the EIC., Comment: 5 pages + 4 figures, 9 pages of supplemental material

The extraction of nonperturbative TMD physics is made challenging by prescriptions that shield the Landau pole, which entangle long- and short-distance contributions in momentum space. The use of different prescriptions then makes the comparison of fit results for underlying nonperturbative contributions not meaningful on their own. We propose a model-independent method to restrict momentum-space observables to the perturbative domain. This method is based on a set of integral functionals that act linearly on terms in the conventional position-space operator product expansion (OPE). Artifacts from the truncation of the integral can be systematically pushed to higher powers in $\Lambda_{\rm QCD}/k_T$. We demonstrate that this method can be used to compute the cumulative integral of TMD PDFs over $k_T \le k_T^\mathrm{cut}$ in terms of collinear PDFs, accounting for both radiative corrections and evolution effects. This yields a systematic way of correcting the naive picture where the TMD PDF integrates to a collinear PDF, and for unpolarized quark distributions we find that when renormalization scales are chosen near $k_T^\mathrm{cut}$, such corrections are a percent-level effect. We also show that, when supplemented with experimental data and improved perturbative inputs, our integral functionals will enable model-independent limits to be put on the nonperturbative OPE contributions to the Collins-Soper kernel and intrinsic TMD distributions., Comment: 39 pages + appendices and references, 15 figures; v2: journal version

We present predictions for the gluon-fusion Higgs $p_T$ spectrum at third resummed and fixed order (N$^3$LL$'+$N$^3$LO) including fiducial cuts as required by experimental measurements at the Large Hadron Collider. Integrating the spectrum, we predict for the first time the total fiducial cross section to third order (N$^3$LO) and improved by resummation. The N$^3$LO correction is enhanced by cut-induced logarithmic effects and is not reproduced by the inclusive N$^3$LO correction times a lower-order acceptance. These are the highest-order predictions of their kind achieved so far at a hadron collider., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2: journal version (adjusted title, more details on nonsingular fit, note added)

We consider Drell-Yan production $pp\to V^* X \to L X$ at small $q_T \ll Q$. Experimental measurements require fiducial cuts on the leptonic state $L$, which introduce enhanced, linear power corrections in $q_T/Q$. We show that they can be unambiguously predicted from factorization, and resummed to the same order as the leading-power contribution. We thus obtain predictions for the fiducial $q_T$ spectrum to N3LL and next-to-leading-power in $q_T/Q$. Matching to full NNLO ($\alpha_s^2$), we find that the linear power corrections are indeed the dominant ones, and the remaining fixed-order corrections become almost negligible below $q_T \lesssim 40$ GeV. We also discuss the implications for more complicated observables, and provide predictions for the fiducial $\phi^*$ spectrum at N3LL+NNLO. We find excellent agreement with ATLAS and CMS measurements of $q_T$ and $\phi^*$. We also consider the $p_T^\ell$ spectrum. We show that it develops leptonic power corrections in $q_T/(Q - 2p_T^\ell)$, which diverge near the Jacobian peak $p_T^\ell \sim Q/2$ and must be kept to all powers to obtain a meaningful result there. Doing so, we obtain for the first time an analytically resummed result for the $p_T^\ell$ spectrum around the Jacobian peak at N3LL+NNLO. Our method is based on performing a complete tensor decomposition for hadronic and leptonic tensors. In practice this is equivalent to often-used recoil prescriptions, for which our results now provide rigorous, formal justification. Our tensor decomposition yields nine Lorentz-scalar hadronic structure functions, which directly map onto the commonly used angular coefficients, but also holds for arbitrary leptonic final states. In particular, for suitably defined Born-projected leptons it still yields a LO-like angular decomposition even when including QED final-state radiation. We also discuss the application to $q_T$ subtractions., Comment: 81 pages + appendices, beautiful figures [abstract abridged]; v2: more beautiful figures (illustration of Born lepton projection, comparisons to normalized CMS spectra); v3: journal version (added figure with uncertainty breakdown)

We derive the leading-power singular terms at three loops for both $q_T$ and 0-jettiness, $\cal{T}_0$, for generic color-singlet processes. Our results provide the complete set of differential subtraction terms for $q_T$ and $\cal{T}_0$ subtractions at N$^3$LO, which are an important ingredient for matching N$^3$LO calculations with parton showers. We obtain the full three-loop structure of the relevant beam and soft functions, which are necessary ingredients for the resummation of $q_T$ and $\cal{T}_0$ at N$^3$LL$'$ and N$^4$LL order, and which constitute important building blocks in other contexts as well. The nonlogarithmic boundary coefficients of the beam functions, which contribute to the integrated subtraction terms, are not yet fully known at three loops. By exploiting consistency relations between different factorization limits, we derive results for the $q_T$ and $\cal{T}_0$ beam function coefficients at N$^3$LO in the $z\to 1$ threshold limit, and we also estimate the size of the unknown terms beyond threshold., Comment: 37 pages + appendices, 8 figures; v2: minor changes, journal version

Soft threshold factorization has been used extensively to study hadronic collisions. It is derived in the limit where the momentum fractions $x_{a,b}$ of both incoming partons approach $x_{a,b}\to 1$. We present a generalized threshold factorization theorem for color-singlet processes, which holds in the weaker limit of only $x_a \to 1$ for generic $x_b$ (or vice versa), corresponding to the limit of large rapidity but generic invariant mass of the produced color singlet. It encodes the complete soft and/or collinear singular structure in the partonic momentum fractions to all orders in perturbation theory, including in particular flavor-nondiagonal partonic channels at leading power. It provides a more powerful approximation than the classic soft threshold limit, capturing a much larger set of contributions. We demonstrate this explicitly for the Z and Higgs rapidity spectrum to NNLO, and we use it to predict a nontrivial set of its N3LO contributions. Our factorization theorem provides the relevant resummation of large-$x$ logarithms in the rapidity spectrum required for resummation-improved PDF fits. One of our factorization ingredients is a new beam function closely related to the N-jettiness beam function. As a byproduct, we identify the correct soft threshold factorization for rapidity spectra among the differing results in the literature., Comment: 5 + 15 pages, 5 + 4 figures

We consider Drell-Yan production $pp \to Z/\gamma^* \to \ell^+\ell^-$ with the simultaneous measurement of the $Z$-boson transverse momentum $q_T$ and $0$-jettiness $\mathcal{T}_0$. Since both observables resolve the initial-state QCD radiation, the double-differential cross section in $q_T$ and $\mathcal{T}_0$ contains Sudakov double logarithms of both $q_T/Q$ and $\mathcal{T}_0/Q$, where $Q \sim m_Z$ is the dilepton invariant mass. We simultaneously resum the logarithms in $q_T$ and $\mathcal{T}_0$ to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order (NNLL) matched to next-to-leading fixed order (NLO). Our results provide the first genuinely two-dimensional analytic Sudakov resummation for initial-state radiation. Integrating the resummed double-differential spectrum with an appropriate scale choice over either $\mathcal{T}_0$ or $q_T$ recovers the corresponding single-differential resummation for the remaining variable. We discuss in detail the required effective field theory setups and their combination using two-dimensional resummation profile scales. We also introduce a new method to perform the $q_T$ resummation where the underlying resummation is carried out in impact-parameter space, but is consistently turned off depending on the momentum-space target value for $q_T$. Our methods apply at any order and for any color-singlet production process, such that our results can be systematically extended when the relevant perturbative ingredients become available., Comment: 43 pages + 10 pages in appendices, 20 figures; v2: journal version; references added, panel with fixed-order result added to figure 15; v3: fixed a typo (incorrect sign) in eq. (B.19)

Jet vetoes are widely used in experimental analyses at the LHC to distinguish different hard-interaction processes. Experimental jet selections require a cut on the (pseudo)rapidity of reconstructed jets, $|\eta_{\rm jet}| \leq \eta_{\rm cut}$. We extend the standard jet-$p_T$ (jet-veto) resummation, which implicitly works in the limit $\eta_{\rm cut}\to\infty$, by incorporating a finite jet rapidity cut. We also consider the case of a step in the required $p_T^{\rm cut}$ at an intermediate value of $|\eta| \simeq 2.5$, which is of experimental relevance to avoid the increased pile-up contamination beyond the reach of the tracking detectors. We identify all relevant parametric regimes, discuss their factorization and resummation as well as the relations between them, and show that the phenomenologically relevant regimes are free of large nonglobal logarithms. The $\eta_{\rm cut}$ dependence of all resummation ingredients is computed to the same order to which they are currently known for $\eta_{\rm cut}\to\infty$. Our results pave the way for carrying out the jet-veto resummation including a sharp cut or a step at $\eta_{\rm cut}$ to the same order as is currently available in the $\eta_{\rm cut}\to\infty$ limit. The numerical impact of the jet rapidity cut is illustrated for benchmark $q\bar q$ and $gg$ initiated color-singlet processes at NLL$'+$NLO. We find that a rapidity cut at high $\eta_{\rm cut} = 4.5$ is safe to use and has little effect on the cross section. A sharp cut at $\eta_{\rm cut} = 2.5$ can in some cases lead to a substantial increase in the perturbative uncertainties, which can be mitigated by instead using a step in the veto., Comment: 35 pages + 10 pages in appendices, 16 figures; v2: journal version

Gluon-induced processes such as Higgs production typically exhibit large perturbative corrections. These partially arise from large virtual corrections to the gluon form factor, which at timelike momentum transfer contains Sudakov logarithms evaluated at negative arguments $\ln^2(-1) = -\pi^2$. It has been observed that resumming these terms in the timelike form factor leads to a much improved perturbative convergence for the total cross section. We discuss how to consistently incorporate the resummed form factor into the perturbative predictions for generic cross sections differential in the Born kinematics, including in particular the Higgs rapidity spectrum. We verify that this indeed improves the perturbative convergence, leading to smaller and more reliable perturbative uncertainties, and that this is not affected by cancellations between resummed and unresummed contributions. Combining both fixed-order and resummation uncertainties, the perturbative uncertainty for the total cross section at N$^3$LO$+$N$^3$LL$^\prime_\varphi$ is about a factor of two smaller than at N$^3$LO. The perturbative uncertainty of the rapidity spectrum at NNLO$+$NNLL$^\prime_\varphi$ is similarly reduced compared to NNLO. We also study the analogous resummation for quark-induced processes, namely Higgs production through bottom quark annihilation and the Drell-Yan rapidity spectrum. For the former the resummation leads to a small improvement, while for the latter it confirms the already small uncertainties of the fixed-order predictions., Comment: 30 pages + 17 pages in Appendices, 10 figures; v2: journal version; references added, discussed individual partonic channels for Drell-Yan