No Arabic abstract
We present a next-to-leading-order calculation of the production of a Z boson with two jets, one or more of which contains a heavy quark (Q=c,b). We show that the cross section with only one heavy-quark jet is larger than that with two heavy-quark jets at both the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC. These processes are the dominant irreducible backgrounds to a Higgs boson produced in association with a Z boson, followed by h->bb. Our calculation makes use of a heavy-quark distribution function, which resums collinear logarithms and makes the next-to-leading-order calculation tractable.
The production of a W boson and two jets, at least one of which contains a b quark, is a principal background to single-top production, Higgs production, and signals of new physics at hadron colliders. We present a next-to-leading-order (NLO) calculation of the cross section at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The NLO cross section differs substantially from that at LO, and we provide a context in which to understand this result.
The leading-order process for the production of a Z boson and a heavy-quark jet at hadron colliders is gQ -> ZQ (Q=c,b). We calculate this cross section at next-to-leading order at the Tevatron and the LHC, and compare it with other sources of ZQ events. This process is a background to new physics, and can be used to measure the heavy-quark distribution function.
The cross section of associated production of a Z boson with heavy flavor jets in $pp$ collisions is calculated using the SHERPA Monte Carlo generator and the analytical combined QCD approach based on kt-factorization at small x and conventional collinear QCD at large x. A satisfactory description of the ATLAS and CMS data on the $p_T$ spectra of Z bosons and c-jets in the whole rapidity, y, region is shown. Searching for the intrinsic charm (IC) contribution in these processes, which could be visible at large y > 1.5, we study observables very sensitive to non-zero IC contributions and less affected by theoretical QCD scale uncertainties. One of such observables is the so-called double ratio: the ratio of the differential cross section of Z + c production in the central region of |y| < 1.5 and in the forward region 1.5 < |y| < 2.5, divided by the same ratio for Z + b production. These observables could be more promising for the search of IC at LHC as compared to the observables considered earlier.
We consider an observable very sensitive to the non-zero intrinsic charm (IC) contribution to the proton density. It is the ratio between the differential cross sections of the photon or $Z$-boson and $c$-jet production in the $pp$ collision, $gamma(Z) + c$, and the $gamma(Z)$ and the $b$-jet production. It is shown that this ratio can be approximately flat or increasing at large $gamma(Z)$ transverse momenta $p_T$ and their pseudo-rapidities $1.5 < eta < 2.4$ if the IC contribution is taken into account. On the contrary, in the absence of the IC this ratio decreases as $p_T$ grows. We also present the ratios of the cross sections integrated over $p_T$ as a function of the IC probability $w$. It is shown that these ratios are mostly independent on the theoretical uncertainties, and such predictions could therefore be much more promising for the search for the intrinsic charm signal at the LHC compared to the predictions for $p_T$-spectra, which significantly depend on these uncertainties.
In this contribution we present recent progress in the computation of next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections for the production of an electroweak vector boson in association with jets at hadron colliders. We focus on results obtained using the virtual matrix element library BLACKHAT in conjunction with SHERPA, focusing on results relevant to understanding the background to top production.