NLO QCD corrections to W+ W+ jj production in vector-boson fusion at the LHC

TL;DR

This work delivers a fully independent NLO QCD calculation for electroweak W+W+jj production via vector-boson fusion at the LHC, including leptonic W decays and non-resonant diagrams. By decomposing diagrams into reusable EW/QCD building blocks and employing the complex-mass scheme, the authors achieve efficient, gauge-consistent computations validated against multiple external tools and prior results. They show that s-channel and t-u interferences are negligible under VBF cuts and that NLO corrections are modest (~5%) with significantly reduced scale uncertainties, especially when using a dynamical scale. The results provide precise predictions and robust background modeling for Higgs and new physics studies relying on VBF signatures.

Abstract

We present a next-to-leading-order QCD calculation for e+νeμ+νμjj production in vector-boson fusion, i.e. the scattering of two positively charged W bosons at the LHC. We include the complete set of electroweak leading-order diagrams for the six-particle final state and quantitatively assess the size of the s-channel and interference contributions in VBF kinematics. The calculation uses the complex-mass scheme to describe the W-boson resonances and is implemented into a flexible Monte Carlo generator. Using a dynamical scale based on the transverse momenta of the jets, the QCD corrections stay below about 10% for all considered observables, while the residual scale dependence is at the level of 1%.

Figures (14)

• Figure 1: Generic types of t-channel topologies
• Figure 2: Example of a diagram split into four building blocks by applying the polarization sums (\ref{['polsum']}) to cut three intermediate vector bosons.
• Figure 3: Building blocks involving leptons.
• Figure 4: LO building blocks involving quark lines.
• Figure 6: Scale dependence of the LO (dotted blue line) and NLO (solid red line) cross section for the fixed (Figure \ref{['FS']}) and dynamic scale (Figure \ref{['DS2']}) as a function of the scale parameter $\xi$.