Normalizing Weak Boson Pair Production at the Large Hadron Collider

TL;DR

The paper addresses how to normalize vector-boson-pair production (VV) at the LHC to serve as SM backgrounds in multi-lepton final states. It develops an inclusive-rate framework based on ratios of VV to Drell–Yan cross sections, incorporating NLO QCD for qq̄ channels and LO gg channels, including decays to leptons, and evaluates scale and PDF uncertainties. By analyzing ZZ, WW, and ZW production, it demonstrates that carefully chosen cross-section ratios, including the use of off-shell Z states, can reduce theoretical errors to the 5–20% level and that certain ratios are robust against energy changes, facilitating early data-driven background predictions. The study also introduces the jet veto survival probability as a tool to predict VV JVSP from Drell–Yan data, with considerations of hadronization, parton showers, and t t̄ backgrounds, offering practical strategies for background control in multi-lepton searches.

Abstract

The production of two weak bosons at the Large Hadron Collider will be one of the most important sources of SM backgrounds for final states with multiple leptons. In this paper we consider several quantities that can help normalize the production of weak boson pairs. Ratios of inclusive cross-sections for production of two weak bosons and Drell-Yan are investigated and the corresponding theoretical errors are evaluated. The possibility of predicting the jet veto survival probability of VV production from Drell-Yan data is also considered. Overall, the theoretical errors on all quantities remain less than 5-20%. The dependence of these quantities on the center of mass energy of the proton-proton collision is also studied.