Jun 13 2024
hep-ph arXiv:2406.07671v2
The numerically stable evaluation of scattering matrix elements near the infrared limit of gauge theories is of great importance for the success of collider physics experiments. We present a novel algorithm that utilizes double precision arithmetic and reaches higher precision than a naive quadruple precision implementation at smaller computational cost. The method is based on physics-driven modifications to propagators, vertices and external polarizations.
J. Andersen, B. Assi, K. Asteriadis, P. Azzurri, G. Barone, A. Behring, A. Benecke, S. Bhattacharya, E. Bothmann, S. Caletti, X. Chen, M. Chiesa, A. Cooper-Sarkar, T. Cridge, A. Cueto Gomez, S. Datta, P. K. Dhani, M. Donega, T. Engel, S. Ferrario Ravasio, et al (64) Jun 04 2024
hep-ph arXiv:2406.00708v1
This report presents a short summary of the activities of the "Standard Model" working group for the "Physics at TeV Colliders" workshop (Les Houches, France, 12-30 June, 2023).
Apr 23 2024
hep-ph arXiv:2404.14360v1
We introduce the Alaric parton shower for simulating QCD radiation at hadron colliders and present numerical results from an implementation in the event generator Sherpa. Alaric provides a consistent framework to quantify certain systematic uncertainties which cannot be eliminated by comparing the parton shower with analytic resummation. In particular, it allows to study recoil effects away from the soft and collinear limits without the need to change the evolution variable or the splitting functions. We assess the performance of Alaric in Drell-Yan lepton pair and QCD jet production, and present the first multi-jet merging for the new algorithm.
Feb 26 2024
hep-ph arXiv:2402.15497v1
Top-quark pair production in association with two b-jets is computed at next-to-leading order QCD precision, including effects of the b-quark mass, and matched to a $t\bar{t}$+jets simulation in a variable flavor number scheme. The Monte Carlo realization of this method, called fusing, consistently embeds the four-flavor calculation in a particle-level event generator. As a first phenomenological application, we present observables relevant to the data-driven estimation of irreducible backgrounds to $t\bar{t}H$-production.
The rapid deployment of computing hardware different from the traditional CPU+RAM model in data centers around the world mandates a change in the design of event generators for the Large Hadron Collider, in order to provide economically and ecologically sustainable simulations for the high-luminosity era of the LHC. Parton-level event generation is one of the most computationally demanding parts of the simulation and is therefore a prime target for improvements. We present a production-ready leading-order parton-level event generation framework capable of utilizing most modern hardware and discuss its performance in the standard candle processes of vector boson and top-quark pair production with up to five additional jets.
Sep 26 2023
hep-ph arXiv:2309.13154v2
We present a scalable technique for the simulation of collider events with multi-jet final states, based on an improved parton-level event file format. The method is implemented for both leading- and next-to-leading order QCD calculations. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the I/O performance and validate our new framework using Higgs-boson plus multi-jet production with up to seven jets. We make the resulting code base available for public use.
Jul 04 2023
hep-ph arXiv:2307.00728v2
We present an algorithm for massive parton evolution which is based on the differentially accurate simulation of soft-gluon radiation by means of a non-trivial azimuthal angle dependence of the splitting functions. The kinematics mapping is chosen such as to to reflect the symmetry of the final state in soft-gluon radiation and collinear splitting processes. We compute the counterterms needed for a fully differential NLO matching and discuss the analytic structure of the parton shower in the NLL limit. We implement the new algorithm in the numerical code Alaric and present a first comparison to experimental data.
Luc Darmé, Céline Degrande, Claude Duhr, Benjamin Fuks, Mark Goodsell, Gudrun Heinrich, Valentin Hirschi, Stefan Höche, Marius Höfer, Joshua Isaacson, Olivier Mattelaer, Thorsten Ohl, Davide Pagani, Jürgen Reuter, Peter Richardson, Steffen Schumann, Hua-Sheng Shao, Frank Siegert, Marco Zaro We present an update of the Universal FeynRules Output model format, commonly known as the UFO format, that is used by several automated matrix-element generators and high-energy physics software. We detail different features that have been proposed as extensions of the initial format during the last ten years, and collect them in the current second version of the model format that we coin the Universal Feynman Output format. Following the initial philosophy of the UFO, they consist of flexible and modular additions to address particle decays, custom propagators, form factors, the renormalisation group running of parameters and masses, and higher-order quantum corrections.
Mar 15 2023
hep-ph arXiv:2303.08104v1
We present the first fully differential predictions for tau neutrino scattering in the energy region relevant to the DUNE experiment, including all spin correlations and all tau lepton decay channels. The calculation is performed using a generic interface between the neutrino event generator Achilles and the publicly available, general-purpose collider event simulation framework Sherpa.
Sep 05 2022
hep-ph arXiv:2209.00843v1
Poor computing efficiency of precision event generators for LHC physics has become a bottleneck for Monte-Carlo event simulation campaigns. We provide solutions to this problem by focusing on two major components of general-purpose event generators: The PDF evaluator and the matrix-element generator. For a typical production setup in the ATLAS experiment, we show that the two can consume about 80% of the total runtime. Using NLO simulations of $pp\to\ell^+\ell^-+\text{jets}$ and $pp\to t\bar{t}+\text{jets}$ as an example, we demonstrate that the computing footprint of LHAPDF and Sherpa can be reduced by factors of order 10, while maintaining the formal accuracy of the event sample. The improved codes are made publicly available.
Aug 15 2022
hep-ph arXiv:2208.06057v3
We present a simple parton-shower model that replaces the explicit angular ordering of the coherent branching formalism with a differentially accurate simulation of soft-gluon radiation by means of a non-trivial dependence on azimuthal angles. We introduce a global kinematics mapping and provide an analytic proof that it satisfies the criteria for next-to leading logarithmic accuracy. In the new algorithm, initial and final state evolution are treated on the same footing. We provide an implementation for final-state evolution in the numerical code Alaric and present a first comparison to experimental data.
J. M. Campbell, M. Diefenthaler, T. J. Hobbs, S. Höche, J. Isaacson, F. Kling, S. Mrenna, J. Reuter, S. Alioli, J. R. Andersen, C. Andreopoulos, A. M. Ankowski, E. C. Aschenauer, A. Ashkenazi, M. D. Baker, J. L. Barrow, M. van Beekveld, G. Bewick, S. Bhattacharya, C. Bierlich, et al (191) We provide an overview of the status of Monte-Carlo event generators for high-energy particle physics. Guided by the experimental needs and requirements, we highlight areas of active development, and opportunities for future improvements. Particular emphasis is given to physics models and algorithms that are employed across a variety of experiments. These common themes in event generator development lead to a more comprehensive understanding of physics at the highest energies and intensities, and allow models to be tested against a wealth of data that have been accumulated over the past decades. A cohesive approach to event generator development will allow these models to be further improved and systematic uncertainties to be reduced, directly contributing to future experimental success. Event generators are part of a much larger ecosystem of computational tools. They typically involve a number of unknown model parameters that must be tuned to experimental data, while maintaining the integrity of the underlying physics models. Making both these data, and the analyses with which they have been obtained accessible to future users is an essential aspect of open science and data preservation. It ensures the consistency of physics models across a variety of experiments.
Ben Nachman, Salvatore Rappoccio, Nhan Tran, Johan Bonilla, Grigorios Chachamis, Barry M. Dillon, Sergei V. Chekanov, Robin Erbacher, Loukas Gouskos, Andreas Hinzmann, Stefan Höche, B. Todd Huffman, Ashutosh. V. Kotwal, Deepak Kar, Roman Kogler, Clemens Lange, Matt LeBlanc, Roy Lemmon, Christine McLean, Mark S. Neubauer, et al (7) Even though jet substructure was not an original design consideration for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments, it has emerged as an essential tool for the current physics program. We examine the role of jet substructure on the motivation for and design of future energy frontier colliders. In particular, we discuss the need for a vibrant theory and experimental research and development program to extend jet substructure physics into the new regimes probed by future colliders. Jet substructure has organically evolved with a close connection between theorists and experimentalists and has catalyzed exciting innovations in both communities. We expect such developments will play an important role in the future energy frontier physics program.
Anja Butter, Tilman Plehn, Steffen Schumann, Simon Badger, Sascha Caron, Kyle Cranmer, Francesco Armando Di Bello, Etienne Dreyer, Stefano Forte, Sanmay Ganguly, Dorival Gonçalves, Eilam Gross, Theo Heimel, Gudrun Heinrich, Lukas Heinrich, Alexander Held, Stefan Höche, Jessica N. Howard, Philip Ilten, Joshua Isaacson, et al (31) First-principle simulations are at the heart of the high-energy physics research program. They link the vast data output of multi-purpose detectors with fundamental theory predictions and interpretation. This review illustrates a wide range of applications of modern machine learning to event generation and simulation-based inference, including conceptional developments driven by the specific requirements of particle physics. New ideas and tools developed at the interface of particle physics and machine learning will improve the speed and precision of forward simulations, handle the complexity of collision data, and enhance inference as an inverse simulation problem.
Jonathan L. Feng, Felix Kling, Mary Hall Reno, Juan Rojo, Dennis Soldin, Luis A. Anchordoqui, Jamie Boyd, Ahmed Ismail, Lucian Harland-Lang, Kevin J. Kelly, Vishvas Pandey, Sebastian Trojanowski, Yu-Dai Tsai, Jean-Marco Alameddine, Takeshi Araki, Akitaka Ariga, Tomoko Ariga, Kento Asai, Alessandro Bacchetta, Kincso Balazs, et al (216) High energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe Standard Model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential.
An increase in theoretical precision of Monte Carlo event generators is typically accompanied by an increased need for computational resources. One major obstacle are negative weighted events, which appear in Monte Carlo simulations with higher perturbative accuracy. While they can be handled somewhat easily in fixed-order calculations, they are a major concern for particle level event simulations. In this article, the origin of negative weights in the S-MC@NLO method is reviewed and mechanisms to reduce the negative weight fraction in simulations with the Sherpa event generator are presented, with a focus on V+jets and tt+jets simulations.
An event generation framework is presented that enables the automatic simulation of events for next-generation neutrino experiments in the Standard Model or extensions thereof. The new generator combines the calculation of the leptonic current based on an automated matrix element generator, and the computation of the hadronic current based on a state-of-the-art nuclear physics model. The approach is validated in Standard-Model simulations for electron scattering and neutrino scattering. Furthermore, the first fully-differential neutrino trident production results are shown in the quasielastic region.
Oct 13 2021
hep-ph arXiv:2110.05964v2
We introduce a method for the separation of soft and collinear logarithms in QCD parton evolution at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$ and at leading color. Using an implementation of the technique in the Dire parton shower, we analyze the numerical impact of genuine triple-collinear corrections from quark pair emission in $e^+e^-\to$ hadrons.
We outline a new technique for the fully-differential matching of final-state parton showers to NNLO calculations, focussing here on the simplest case of leptonic collisions with two final-state jets. The strategy is facilitated by working in the antenna formalism, making use of NNLO antenna subtraction on the fixed-order side and the sector-antenna framework on the shower side. As long as the combined real-virtual and double-real corrections do not overcompensate the real-emission term in the three-jet region, negative weights can be eliminated from the matching scheme. We describe the implementation of all necessary components in the VINCIA antenna shower in PYTHIA 8.3.
The evaluation of one-loop matrix elements is one of the main bottlenecks in precision calculations for the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider. To alleviate this problem, a new C++ interface to the MCFM parton-level Monte Carlo is introduced, giving access to an extensive library of analytic results for one-loop amplitudes. Timing comparisons are presented for a large set of Standard Model processes. These are relevant for high-statistics event simulation in the context of experimental analyses and precision fixed-order computations.
We discuss and illustrate the properties of several parton-shower algorithms available in Pythia and Vincia, in the context of Higgs production via vector boson fusion (VBF). In particular, the distinctive colour topology of VBF processes allows to define observables sensitive to the coherent radiation pattern of additional jets. We study a set of such observables, using the Vincia sector-antenna shower as our main reference, and contrast it to Pythia's transverse-momentum-ordered DGLAP shower as well as Pythia's dipole-improved shower. We then investigate the robustness of these predictions as successive levels of higher-order perturbative matrix elements are incorporated, including next-to-leading-order matched and tree-level merged calculations, using Powheg Box and Sherpa respectively to generate the hard events.
A. Buckley, X. Chen, J. Cruz-Martinez, S. Ferrario Ravasio, T. Gehrmann, E.W.N. Glover, S. Höche, A. Huss, J. Huston, J.M. Lindert, S. Plätzer, M. Schönherr The data taken in Run II at the LHC have started to probe Higgs boson production at high transverse momentum. Future data will provide a large sample of events with boosted Higgs boson topologies, allowing for a detailed understanding of electroweak Higgs boson plus two-jet production, and in particular the vector-boson fusion mode (VBF). We perform a detailed comparison of precision calculations for Higgs boson production in this channel, with particular emphasis on large Higgs boson transverse momenta, and on the jet radius dependence of the cross section. We study fixed-order predictions at NLO and NNLO QCD, and compare the results to NLO plus parton shower (NLOPS) matched calculations. The impact of the NNLO corrections on the central predictions is mild, with inclusive scale uncertainties of the order of a few percent, which can increase with the imposition of kinematic cuts. We find good agreement between the fixed-order and matched calculations in non-Sudakov regions, and the various NLOPS predictions also agree well in the Sudakov regime. We analyze backgrounds to VBF Higgs boson production stemming from associated production, and from gluon-gluon fusion. At high Higgs boson transverse momenta, the $\Delta y_{jj}$ and/or $m_{jj}$ cuts typically used to enhance the VBF signal over background lead to a reduced efficiency. We examine this effect as a function of the jet radius and using different definitions of the tagging jets. QCD radiative corrections increase for all Higgs production modes with increasing Higgs boson $p_T$, but the proportionately larger increase in the gluon fusion channel results in a decrease of the gluon-gluon fusion background to electroweak Higgs plus two jet production upon requiring exclusive two-jet topologies. We study this effect in detail and contrast in particular a central jet veto with a global jet multiplicity requirement.
Dec 21 2020
hep-ph arXiv:2012.09873v2
QCD splittings are among the most fundamental theory concepts at the LHC. We show how they can be studied systematically with the help of invertible neural networks. These networks work with sub-jet information to extract fundamental parameters from jet samples. Our approach expands the LEP measurements of QCD Casimirs to a systematic test of QCD properties based on low-level jet observables. Starting with an toy example we study the effect of the full shower, hadronization, and detector effects in detail.
HSF Physics Event Generator WG, Andrea Valassi, Efe Yazgan, Josh McFayden, Simone Amoroso, Joshua Bendavid, Andy Buckley, Matteo Cacciari, Taylor Childers, Vitaliano Ciulli, Rikkert Frederix, Stefano Frixione, Francesco Giuli, Alexander Grohsjean, Christian Gütschow, Stefan Höche, Walter Hopkins, Philip Ilten, Dmitri Konstantinov, Frank Krauss, et al (20) We review the main software and computing challenges for the Monte Carlo physics event generators used by the LHC experiments, in view of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) physics programme. This paper has been prepared by the HEP Software Foundation (HSF) Physics Event Generator Working Group as an input to the LHCC review of HL-LHC computing, which has started in May 2020.
Enrico Bothmann, Gurpreet Singh Chahal, Stefan Höche, Johannes Krause, Frank Krauss, Silvan Kuttimalai, Sebastian Liebschner, Davide Napoletano, Marek Schönherr, Holger Schulz, Steffen Schumann, Frank Siegert Sherpa is a general-purpose Monte Carlo event generator for the simulation of particle collisions in high-energy collider experiments. We summarize essential features and improvements of the Sherpa 2.2 release series, which is heavily used for event generation in the analysis and interpretation of LHC Run 1 and Run 2 data. We highlight a decade of developments towards ever higher precision in the simulation of particle-collision events.
Apr 23 2019
hep-ph arXiv:1904.09382v1
We propose a novel technique for the combination of multi-jet merged simulations in the five-flavor scheme with calculations for the production of b-quark associated final states in the four-flavor scheme. We show the equivalence of our algorithm to the FONLL method at the fixed-order and logarithmic accuracy inherent to the matrix-element and parton-shower simulation employed in the multi-jet merging. As a first application we discuss Zbb production at the Large Hadron Collider.
Johannes Bellm, Andy Buckley, Xuan Chen, Aude Gehrmann-De Ridder, Thomas Gehrmann, Nigel Glover, Alexander Huss, Joao Pires, Stefan Höche, Joey Huston, Silvan Kuttimalai, Simon Plätzer, Emanuele Re We perform a phenomenological study of $Z$ plus jet, Higgs plus jet and di-jet production at the Large Hadron Collider. We investigate in particular the dependence of the leading jet cross section on the jet radius as a function of the jet transverse momentum. Theoretical predictions are obtained using perturbative QCD calculations at the next-to and next-to-next-to-leading order, using a range of renormalization and factorization scales. The fixed order predictions are compared to results obtained from matching next-to-leading order calculations to parton showers. A study of the scale dependence as a function of the jet radius is used to provide a better estimate of the scale uncertainty for small jet sizes. The non-perturbative corrections as a function of jet radius are estimated from different generators.
M. Cepeda, S. Gori, P. Ilten, M. Kado, F. Riva, R. Abdul Khalek, A. Aboubrahim, J. Alimena, S. Alioli, A. Alves, C. Asawatangtrakuldee, A. Azatov, P. Azzi, S. Bailey, S. Banerjee, E.L. Barberio, D. Barducci, G. Barone, M. Bauer, C. Bautista, et al (357) The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, was a success achieved with only a percent of the entire dataset foreseen for the LHC. It opened a landscape of possibilities in the study of Higgs boson properties, Electroweak Symmetry breaking and the Standard Model in general, as well as new avenues in probing new physics beyond the Standard Model. Six years after the discovery, with a conspicuously larger dataset collected during LHC Run 2 at a 13 TeV centre-of-mass energy, the theory and experimental particle physics communities have started a meticulous exploration of the potential for precision measurements of its properties. This includes studies of Higgs boson production and decays processes, the search for rare decays and production modes, high energy observables, and searches for an extended electroweak symmetry breaking sector. This report summarises the potential reach and opportunities in Higgs physics during the High Luminosity phase of the LHC, with an expected dataset of pp collisions at 14 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 ab$^{-1}$. These studies are performed in light of the most recent analyses from LHC collaborations and the latest theoretical developments. The potential of an LHC upgrade, colliding protons at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV and producing a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 15 ab$^{-1}$, is also discussed.
Sep 13 2018
hep-ph arXiv:1809.04192v1
We present a parton-shower matched NNLO QCD calculation for hadronic final state production in Deep Inelastic Scattering. The computation is based on the UNLOPS method and is implemented in the publicly available event generation framework SHERPA. Results are compared to measurements performed by the H1 collaboration.
Jul 13 2018
hep-ph arXiv:1807.04348v3
We present a technique for infrared subtraction in next-to-leading order QCD calculations that preserves the virtuality of resonant propagators. The approach is based on the pseudo-dipole subtraction method proposed by Catani and Seymour in the context of identified particle production. As the first applications, we compute the ee > WWbb and pp > WWjbjb cross-section, which are both dominated by top-quark pair production above the threshold. We compare the efficiency of our approach with a calculation performed using the standard dipole subtraction technique.
May 11 2018
hep-ph arXiv:1805.03757v2
We compute the next-to-leading order corrections to soft-gluon radiation differentially in the one-emission phase space. We show that their contribution to the evolution of color dipoles can be obtained in a modified subtraction scheme, such that both one- and two-emission terms are amenable to Monte-Carlo integration. The two-loop cusp anomalous dimension is recovered naturally upon integration over the full phase space. We present two independent implementations of the new algorithm in the two event generators Pythia and Sherpa, and we compare the resulting fully differential simulation to the CMW scheme.
J. Bendavid, F. Caola, V. Ciulli, R. Harlander, G. Heinrich, J. Huston, S. Kallweit, S. Prestel, E. Re, K. Tackmann, J. Thaler, K. Theofilatos, J. R. Andersen, J. Bellm, N. Berger, D. Bhatia, B. Biedermann, S. Bräuer, D. Britzger, A. G. Buckley, et al (85) Mar 22 2018
hep-ph arXiv:1803.07977v1
This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2017 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt with (I) new developments relevant for high precision Standard Model calculations, (II) theoretical uncertainties and dataset dependence of parton distribution functions, (III) new developments in jet substructure techniques, (IV) issues in the theoretical description of the production of Standard Model Higgs bosons and how to relate experimental measurements, (V) phenomenological studies essential for comparing LHC data from Run II with theoretical predictions and projections for future measurements, and (VI) new developments in Monte Carlo event generators.
Signatures with an electroweak vector boson and many jets play a crucial role at the Large Hadron Collider, both in the measurement of Standard-Model parameters and in searches for new physics. Precise predictions for these multi-scale processes are therefore indispensable. We present next-to-leading order QCD predictions for $W^\pm/Z$+jets at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, including up to five/four jets in the final state. All production channels are included and leptonic decays of the vector bosons are considered at the amplitude level. We assess theoretical uncertainties arising from renormalization- and factorization-scale dependence by considering fixed-order dynamical scales based on the $H_{\rm T}$ variable as well as on the MiNLO procedure. We also explore uncertainties associated to different choices of parton-distribution functions. We provide event samples that can be explored through publicly available $n$-tuple sets, generated with BlackHat in combination with SHERPA.
May 03 2017
hep-ph arXiv:1705.00742v2
A framework to include triple collinear splitting functions into parton showers is presented, and the implementation of flavor-changing NLO splitting kernels is discussed as a first application. The correspondence between the Monte-Carlo integration and the analytic computation of NLO DGLAP evolution kernels is made explicit for both timelike and spacelike parton evolution. Numerical simulation results are obtained with two independent implementations of the new algorithm, using the two independent event generation frameworks Pythia and Sherpa.
May 03 2017
hep-ph arXiv:1705.00982v2
We present a parton shower which implements the DGLAP evolution of parton densities and fragmentation functions at next-to-leading order precision up to effects stemming from local four-momentum conservation. The Monte-Carlo simulation is based on including next-to-leading order collinear splitting functions in an existing parton shower and combining their soft enhanced contributions with the corresponding terms at leading order. Soft double counting is avoided by matching to the soft eikonal. Example results from two independent realizations of the algorithm, implemented in the two event generation frameworks Pythia and Sherpa, illustrate the improved precision of the new formalism.
By measuring the substructure of a jet, one can assign it a "quark" or "gluon" tag. In the eikonal (double-logarithmic) limit, quark/gluon discrimination is determined solely by the color factor of the initiating parton (C_F versus C_A). In this paper, we confront the challenges faced when going beyond this leading-order understanding, using both parton-shower generators and first-principles calculations to assess the impact of higher-order perturbative and nonperturbative physics. Working in the idealized context of electron-positron collisions, where one can define a proxy for quark and gluon jets based on the Lorentz structure of the production vertex, we find a fascinating interplay between perturbative shower effects and nonperturbative hadronization effects. Turning to proton-proton collisions, we highlight a core set of measurements that would constrain current uncertainties in quark/gluon tagging and improve the overall modeling of jets at the Large Hadron Collider.
Jul 26 2016
hep-ph arXiv:1607.06934v1
We present theoretical predictions for the production of top-quark pairs with up to three jets at the next-to leading order in perturbative QCD. The relevant calculations are performed with Sherpa and OpenLoops. To address the issue of scale choices and related uncertainties in the presence of multiple scales, we compare results obtained with the standard scale HT/2 at fixed order and the MINLO procedure. Analyzing various cross sections and distributions for tt+0,1,2,3 jets at the 13 TeV LHC we find a remarkable overall agreement between fixed-order and MINLO results. The differences are typically below the respective factor-two scale variations, suggesting that for all considered jet multiplicities, missing higher-order effects should not exceed the ten percent level.
S. Badger, J. Bendavid, V. Ciulli, A. Denner, R. Frederix, M. Grazzini, J. Huston, M. Schönherr, K. Tackmann, J. Thaler, C. Williams, J. R. Andersen, K. Becker, M. Bell, J. Bellm, E. Bothmann, R. Boughezal, J. Butterworth, S. Carrazza, M. Chiesa, et al (75) May 17 2016
hep-ph arXiv:1605.04692v1
This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2015 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt with (I) new developments relevant for high precision Standard Model calculations, (II) the new PDF4LHC parton distributions, (III) issues in the theoretical description of the production of Standard Model Higgs bosons and how to relate experimental measurements, (IV) a host of phenomenological studies essential for comparing LHC data from Run I with theoretical predictions and projections for future measurements in Run II, and (V) new developments in Monte Carlo event generators.
Jun 17 2015
hep-ph arXiv:1506.05057v2
We present a new parton-shower algorithm. Borrowing from the basic ideas of dipole cascades, the evolution variable is judiciously chosen as the transverse momentum in the soft limit. This leads to a very simple analytic structure of the evolution. A weighting algorithm is implemented, that allows to consistently treat potentially negative values of the splitting functions and the parton distributions. We provide two independent, publicly available implementations for the two event generators Pythia and Sherpa.
Dec 22 2014
hep-ph arXiv:1412.6478v2
We present a fully automated framework as part of the Sherpa event generator for the computation of tree-level cross sections in beyond Standard Model scenarios, making use of model information given in the Universal FeynRules Output format. Elementary vertices are implemented into C++ code automatically and provided to the matrix-element generator Comix at runtime. Widths and branching ratios for unstable particles are computed from the same building blocks. The corresponding decays are simulated with spin correlations. Parton showers, QED radiation and hadronization are added by Sherpa, providing a full simulation of arbitrary BSM processes at the hadron level.
Nov 18 2014
hep-ph arXiv:1411.4085v2
This lecture discusses the physics implemented by Monte Carlo event generators for hadron colliders. It details the construction of parton showers and the matching of parton showers to fixed-order calculations at higher orders in perturbative QCD. It also discusses approaches to merge calculations for a varying number of jets, the interface to the underlying event and hadronization.
Jul 15 2014
hep-ph arXiv:1407.3773v1
We discuss how the UN2LOPS scheme for matching NNLO calculations to parton showers can be applied to processes with large higher-order perturbative QCD corrections. We focus on Higgs-boson production through gluon fusion as an example. We also present an NNLO fixed-order event generator for this reaction.
Jul 08 2014
hep-ph arXiv:1407.1621v1
In this contribution, we present an intermediate storage format for next-to-leading order (NLO) events and explain the advantages of presenting a NLO calculation in this format. We also present some recent applications, including the calculation of PDF uncertainties and the combination of different multiplicity samples for the prediction of gap fractions in inclusive dijet events.
Feb 26 2014
hep-ph arXiv:1402.6293v2
We present differential cross sections for the production of top-quark pairs in conjunction with up to two jets, computed at next-to leading order in perturbative QCD and consistently merged with a parton shower in the Sherpa+OpenLoops framework. Top quark decays including spin correlation effects are taken into account at leading order accuracy. The calculation yields a unified description of top-pair plus multi-jet production, and detailed results are presented for various key observables at the Large Hadron Collider. A large improvement with respect to the multi-jet merging approach at leading order is found for the total transverse energy spectrum, which plays a prominent role in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model.
J. M. Campbell, K. Hatakeyama, J. Huston, F. Petriello, J. Andersen, L. Barze, H. Beauchemin, T. Becher, M. Begel, A. Blondel, G. Bodwin, R. Boughezal, S. Carrazza, M. Chiesa, G. Dissertori, S. Dittmaier, G. Ferrera, S. Forte, N. Glover, T. Hapola, et al (34) Oct 22 2013
hep-ph arXiv:1310.5189v1
This is the summary report of the energy frontier QCD working group prepared for Snowmass 2013. We review the status of tools, both theoretical and experimental, for understanding the strong interactions at colliders. We attempt to prioritize important directions that future developments should take. Most of the efforts of the QCD working group concentrate on proton-proton colliders, at 14 TeV as planned for the next run of the LHC, and for 33 and 100 TeV, possible energies of the colliders that will be necessary to carry on the physics program started at 14 TeV. We also examine QCD predictions and measurements at lepton-lepton and lepton-hadron colliders, and in particular their ability to improve our knowledge of strong coupling constant and parton distribution functions.
Aug 20 2013
hep-ph arXiv:1308.3986v1
In these proceedings we present results from a recent calculation for the production of a W boson in conjunction with five jets at next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. We also use results at lower multiplicities to extrapolate the cross section to the same process with six jets.
LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group, S. Heinemeyer, C. Mariotti, G. Passarino, R. Tanaka, J. R. Andersen, P. Artoisenet, E. A. Bagnaschi, A. Banfi, T. Becher, F. U. Bernlochner, S. Bolognesi, P. Bolzoni, R. Boughezal, D. Buarque, J. Campbell, F. Caola, M. Carena, F. Cascioli, N. Chanon, et al (138) This Report summarizes the results of the activities in 2012 and the first half of 2013 of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the state of the art of Higgs Physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. This report follows the first working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002) and the second working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions (CERN-2012-002). After the discovery of a Higgs boson at the LHC in mid-2012 this report focuses on refined prediction of Standard Model (SM) Higgs phenomenology around the experimentally observed value of 125-126 GeV, refined predictions for heavy SM-like Higgs bosons as well as predictions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and first steps to go beyond these models. The other main focus is on the extraction of the characteristics and properties of the newly discovered particle such as couplings to SM particles, spin and CP-quantum numbers etc.
LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group, S. Dittmaier, C. Mariotti, G. Passarino, R. Tanaka, S. Alekhin, J. Alwall, E. A. Bagnaschi, A. Banfi, J. Blumlein, S. Bolognesi, N. Chanon, T. Cheng, L. Cieri, A. M. Cooper-Sarkar, M. Cutajar, S. Dawson, G. Davies, N. De Filippis, G. Degrassi, et al (101) This Report summarises the results of the second year's activities of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the state of the art of Higgs Physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. The first working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002) focuses on predictions (central values and errors) for total Higgs production cross sections and Higgs branching ratios in the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension, covering also related issues such as Monte Carlo generators, parton distribution functions, and pseudo-observables. This second Report represents the next natural step towards realistic predictions upon providing results on cross sections with benchmark cuts, differential distributions, details of specific decay channels, and further recent developments.
Andy Buckley, Jonathan Butterworth, Stefan Gieseke, David Grellscheid, Stefan Hoche, Hendrik Hoeth, Frank Krauss, Leif Lonnblad, Emily Nurse, Peter Richardson, Steffen Schumann, Michael H. Seymour, Torbjorn Sjostrand, Peter Skands, Bryan Webber We review the physics basis, main features and use of general-purpose Monte Carlo event generators for the simulation of proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Topics included are: the generation of hard-scattering matrix elements for processes of interest, at both leading and next-to-leading QCD perturbative order; their matching to approximate treatments of higher orders based on the showering approximation; the parton and dipole shower formulations; parton distribution functions for event generators; non-perturbative aspects such as soft QCD collisions, the underlying event and diffractive processes; the string and cluster models for hadron formation; the treatment of hadron and tau decays; the inclusion of QED radiation and beyond-Standard-Model processes. We describe the principal features of the ARIADNE, Herwig++, PYTHIA 8 and SHERPA generators, together with the Rivet and Professor validation and tuning tools, and discuss the physics philosophy behind the proper use of these generators and tools. This review is aimed at phenomenologists wishing to understand better how parton-level predictions are translated into hadron-level events as well as experimentalists wanting a deeper insight into the tools available for signal and background simulation at the LHC.
T. Binoth, F. Boudjema, G. Dissertori, A. Lazopoulos, A. Denner, S. Dittmaier, R. Frederix, N. Greiner, S. Hoche, W. Giele, P. Skands, J. Winter, T. Gleisberg, J. Archibald, G. Heinrich, F. Krauss, D. Maitre, M. Huber, J. Huston, N. Kauer, et al (8) Jan 11 2010
hep-ph arXiv:1001.1307v2
Many highly developed Monte Carlo tools for the evaluation of cross sections based on tree matrix elements exist and are used by experimental collaborations in high energy physics. As the evaluation of one-loop matrix elements has recently been undergoing enormous progress, the combination of one-loop matrix elements with existing Monte Carlo tools is on the horizon. This would lead to phenomenological predictions at the next-to-leading order level. This note summarises the discussion of the next-to-leading order multi-leg (NLM) working group on this issue which has been taking place during the workshop on Physics at TeV colliders at Les Houches, France, in June 2009. The result is a proposal for a standard interface between Monte Carlo tools and one-loop matrix element programs.
Jul 30 2008
hep-ph arXiv:0807.4666v2
Phenomenological implications of a minimal extension to the Standard Model are considered, in which a Nambu-Goldstone boson emerges from the spontaneous breaking of a global U(1) symmetry. This is felt only by a scalar field which is a singlet under all Standard Model symmetries, and possibly by neutrinos. Mixing between the Standard Model Higgs boson field and the new singlet field may lead to predominantly invisible Higgs boson decays. The "natural" region in the Higgs boson mass spectrum is determined, where this minimally extended Standard Model is a valid theory up to a high scale related with the smallness of neutrino masses. Surprisingly, this region may coincide with low visibility of all Higgs bosons at the LHC. Monte-Carlo simulation studies of this "nightmare" situation are performed and strategies to search for such Higgs boson to invisible (Nambu-Goldstone boson) decays are discussed. It is possible to improve the signal-to-background ratio by looking at the distribution of either the total transverse momentum of the leptons and the missing transverse momentum, or by looking at the distribution of the azimuthal angle between the missing transverse momentum and the momentum of the lepton pair for the Z- and Higgs-boson associated production. We also study variations of the model with non-Abelian symmetries and present approximate formulae for Higgs boson decay rates. Searching for Higgs bosons in such a scenario at the LHC would most likely be solely based on Higgs to "invisible" decays.
Jun 01 2007
hep-ph arXiv:0705.4577v2
A Markovian Monte Carlo algorithm for multi-parton production in the high-energy limit is proposed and the matching with unintegrated parton densities is discussed.
S. Alekhin, G. Altarelli, N. Amapane, J. Andersen, V. Andreev, M. Arneodo, V. Avati, J. Baines, R.D. Ball, A. Banfi, S.P. Baranov, J. Bartels, O. Behnke, R. Bellan, J. Blumlein, H. Bottcher, S. Bolognesi, M. Boonekamp, D. Bourilkov, J. Bracinik, et al (174) Jan 03 2006
hep-ph arXiv:hep-ph/0601012v3
The HERA electron--proton collider has collected 100 pb$^{-1}$ of data since its start-up in 1992, and recently moved into a high-luminosity operation mode, with upgraded detectors, aiming to increase the total integrated luminosity per experiment to more than 500 pb$^{-1}$. HERA has been a machine of excellence for the study of QCD and the structure of the proton. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which will collide protons with a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, will be completed at CERN in 2007. The main mission of the LHC is to discover and study the mechanisms of electroweak symmetry breaking, possibly via the discovery of the Higgs particle, and search for new physics in the TeV energy scale, such as supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Besides these goals, the LHC will also make a substantial number of precision measurements and will offer a new regime to study the strong force via perturbative QCD processes and diffraction. For the full LHC physics programme a good understanding of QCD phenomena and the structure function of the proton is essential. Therefore, in March 2004, a one-year-long workshop started to study the implications of HERA on LHC physics. This included proposing new measurements to be made at HERA, extracting the maximum information from the available data, and developing/improving the theoretical and experimental tools. This report summarizes the results achieved during this workshop.
S. Alekhin, G. Altarelli, N. Amapane, J. Andersen, V. Andreev, M. Arneodo, V. Avati, J. Baines, R.D. Ball, A. Banfi, S.P. Baranov, J. Bartels, O. Behnke, R. Bellan, J. Blumlein, H. Bottcher, S. Bolognesi, M. Boonekamp, D. Bourilkov, J. Bracinik, et al (174) Jan 03 2006
hep-ph arXiv:hep-ph/0601013v3
The HERA electron--proton collider has collected 100 pb$^{-1}$ of data since its start-up in 1992, and recently moved into a high-luminosity operation mode, with upgraded detectors, aiming to increase the total integrated luminosity per experiment to more than 500 pb$^{-1}$. HERA has been a machine of excellence for the study of QCD and the structure of the proton. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which will collide protons with a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, will be completed at CERN in 2007. The main mission of the LHC is to discover and study the mechanisms of electroweak symmetry breaking, possibly via the discovery of the Higgs particle, and search for new physics in the TeV energy scale, such as supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Besides these goals, the LHC will also make a substantial number of precision measurements and will offer a new regime to study the strong force via perturbative QCD processes and diffraction. For the full LHC physics programme a good understanding of QCD phenomena and the structure function of the proton is essential. Therefore, in March 2004, a one-year-long workshop started to study the implications of HERA on LHC physics. This included proposing new measurements to be made at HERA, extracting the maximum information from the available data, and developing/improving the theoretical and experimental tools. This report summarizes the results achieved during this workshop.