We present an analysis of nonperturbative contributions to the transverse momentum distribution of $Z/gamma^*$ bosons produced at hadron colliders. The new data on the angular distribution $phi^*_eta$ of Drell-Yan pairs measured at the Tevatron is sh
own to be in excellent agreement with a perturbative QCD prediction based on the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) resummation formalism at NNLL accuracy. Using these data, we determine the nonperturbative component of the CSS resummed cross section and estimate its dependence on arbitrary resummation scales and other factors. With the scale dependence included at the NNLL level, a significant nonperturbative component is needed to describe the angular data.
We discuss the impact of the charm quark mass in the CTEQ NNLO global analysis of parton distribution functions of the proton. The $bar{rm MS}$ mass $m_c(m_c)$ of the charm quark is extracted in the S-ACOT-$chi$ heavy-quark factorization scheme at ${
cal O}(alpha_s^2)$ accuracy and found to be in agreement with the world-average value. Impact on $m_c(m_c)$ of combined HERA-1 data on semiinclusive charm production at HERA collider and contributing systematic uncertainties are reviewed.
We present a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) realization of a general quark mass scheme (S-ACOT-$chi$) in deep inelastic scattering and explore the impact of NNLO terms on heavy-quark structure functions $F_{2,L}^{c}(x,Q)$. An amended QCD factor
ization theorem for DIS is discussed that validates the S-ACOT-$chi$ scheme to all orders in the QCD coupling strength. As a new feature, kinematical constraints on collinear production of heavy quarks that are crucial near the heavy-quark threshold are included in the amended factorization theorem. An algorithmic procedure is outlined for implementing this scheme at NNLO by using mass-dependent and massless results from literature. At two loops in QCD cut diagrams, the S-ACOT-$chi$ scheme reduces scale dependence of heavy-quark DIS cross sections as compared to the fixed-flavor number scheme.
We investigate the possible measurement of parity-violating spin asymmetries in jet pair production in proton-proton collisions at the Brookhaven Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), with the goal to constrain longitudinally polarized quark and an
tiquark distribution functions. A measurable asymmetry could be observed in the vicinity of the massive weak W boson resonance, where the parity-violating signal appears above the parity-conserving background and is enhanced by interference of the strong and electroweak production amplitudes. We discuss the potential for such measurements, perhaps the first opportunity to measure a parity-violating asymmetry in proton-proton collisions at RHIC. Sensitivity of this measurement to the polarization of down-type antiquarks is demonstrated.
I discuss advances in the determination of strange, charm, and bottom quark parton distribution functions obtained in the CTEQ6.5 and CTEQ6.6 global analyses. These results affect electroweak precision observables and certain new physics searches at
the Large Hadron Collider. I focus, in particular, on high-energy implications of the consistent treatment of heavy-quark threshold effects in DIS in the general-mass factorization scheme; an independent parametrization for the strangeness PDF; and the possible presence of nonperturbative (intrinsic) charm.
