NLO QCD corrections to WW+jet production at hadron colliders

TL;DR

This work delivers the first next-to-leading order QCD calculation for WW+jet production at hadron colliders, a key background in Higgs and new-physics searches. It presents two independent computational approaches for virtual and real corrections, employing dimensional regularization and Catani-Seymour dipole subtraction to handle infrared singularities. The results show that NLO corrections significantly stabilize cross sections and reduce scale uncertainties, especially when a veto on a second hard jet is used. The study provides practical guidance for using WW+jet processes in background modeling at the Tevatron and LHC, with explicit insights into how jet vetoes affect theoretical precision.

Abstract

We report on the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of W-boson pairs in association with a hard jet at the Tevatron and the LHC, which is an important source of background for Higgs and new-physics searches. The corrections stabilize the leading-order prediction for the cross section considerably, in particular if a veto against the emission of a second hard jet is applied.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Two representative LO diagrams for the partonic process $\mathrm{u}$u$\bar{\mathrm{u}$u$}\to\mathrm{W}$W$^+\mathrm{W}$W$^-\mathrm{g}$g$$.
• Figure 2: Pentagon diagrams for the partonic process $\mathrm{u}$u$\bar{\mathrm{u}$u$}\to\mathrm{W}$W$^+\mathrm{W}$W$^-\mathrm{g}$g$$.
• Figure 3: Some diagrams with closed quark loops for the partonic process $\mathrm{u}$u$\bar{\mathrm{u}$u$}\to\mathrm{W}$W$^+\mathrm{W}$W$^-\mathrm{g}$g$$.
• Figure 4: Scale dependence of the LO and NLO cross sections for $\mathrm{W}$W$\mathrm{W}$W${+}$jet production at the Tevatron, where the renormalization and factorization scales are set equal to $\mu$.
• Figure 5: Scale dependence of the LO and NLO cross sections for $\mathrm{W}$W$\mathrm{W}$W${+}$jet production at the LHC, where the renormalization and factorization scales are set equal to $\mu$.