No Arabic abstract
We present a next-to-leading order (NLO) global DGLAP analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) and their uncertainties. Carrying out an NLO nPDF analysis for the first time with three different types of experimental input -- deep inelastic $ell$+A scattering, Drell-Yan dilepton production in p+$A$ collisions, and inclusive pion production in d+Au and p+p collisions at RHIC -- we find that these data can well be described in a conventional collinear factorization framework. Although the pion production has not been traditionally included in the global analyses, we find that the shape of the nuclear modification factor $R_{rm dAu}$ of the pion $p_T$-spectrum at midrapidity retains sensitivity to the gluon distributions, providing evidence for shadowing and EMC-effect in the nuclear gluons. We use the Hessian method to quantify the nPDF uncertainties which originate from the uncertainties in the data. In this method the sensitivity of $chi^2$ to the variations of the fitting parameters is mapped out to orthogonal error sets which provide a user-friendly way to calculate how the nPDF uncertainties propagate to any factorizable nuclear cross-section. The obtained NLO and LO nPDFs and the corresponding error sets are collected in our new release called {ttfamily EPS09}. These results should find applications in precision analyses of the signatures and properties of QCD matter at the LHC and RHIC.
We review the current status of the global DGLAP analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions, nPDFs, focusing on the recent EPS09 analysis, whose output, EPS09NLO, is the best-constrained NLO nPDF set on the market. Collinear factorization is found to work very well in the kinematical region studied. With the error sets released in the EPS09 package one can compute how the nPDF-related uncertainties propagate into factorizable nuclear hard-process cross sections. A comparison with the other existing NLO nPDF sets is shown, and the BRAHMS forward-$eta$ hadron data from d+Au collisions are discussed in the light of the EPS09 nPDFs and their error sets.
We show for the first time preliminary results of nuclear parton distribution function analysis of charged lepton DIS and Drell-Yan data within the CTEQ framework including error PDFs. We compare our error estimates to estimates of different nPDF groups.
In this talk, we introduce our recently completed next-to-leading order (NLO) global analysis of the nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) called EPS09 - a higher order successor to the well-known leading-order (LO) analysis EKS98 and also to our previous LO work EPS08. As an extension to similar global analyses carried out by other groups, we complement the data from deep inelastic $l+A$ scattering and Drell-Yan dilepton measurements in p+$A$ collisions by inclusive midrapidity pion production data from d+Au collisions at RHIC, which results in better constrained gluon distributions than before. The most important new ingredient, however, is the detailed error analysis, which employs the Hessian method and which allows us to map out the parameter-space vicinity of the best-fit to a collection of nPDF error sets. These error sets provide the end-user a way to compute how the PDF-uncertainties will propagate into the cross sections of his/her interest. The EPS09 package to be released soon, will contain both the NLO and LO results for the best fits and the uncertainty sets.
We explore the application of a two-component model of proton structure functions in the analysis of deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) data at low $Q^2$ and small $x$. This model incorporates both vector meson dominance and the correct photo-production limit. The CJ15 parameterization is applied to the QCD component, in order to take into account effects of order $1/Q^2$ effects, such as target mass corrections and higher twist contributions. The parameters of the leading twist parton distribution functions and higher twist coefficient functions are determined by fitting deep inelastic scattering data. The second moments of the parton distribution functions are extracted and compared with other global fits and lattice determinations.
We compute the unpolarized quark and gluon transverse-momentum dependent fragmentation functions (TMDFFs) at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^3$LO) in perturbative QCD. The calculation is based on a relation between the TMDFF and the limit of the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering cross section where all final-state radiation becomes collinear to the detected hadron. The required cross section is obtained by analytically continuing our recent computation of the Drell-Yan and Higgs boson production cross section at N$^3$LO expanded around the limit of all final-state radiation becoming collinear to one of the initial states. Our results agree with a recent independent calculation by Luo et al.