NLO QCD corrections to Higgs boson production plus three jets in gluon fusion

TL;DR

This paper addresses the challenge of predicting Higgs production in association with three jets via gluon fusion at NLO in QCD within the $m_t \to \infty$ limit, employing the effective $g g H$ coupling. The authors implement a hybrid computational setup combining GoSam for virtual amplitudes with Sherpa and MadDipole/MadEvent for real emission and subtraction, validating consistency with lower-multiplicity channels and gauge invariance. They find a pronounced reduction in scale dependence at NLO and observe modifications to the $p_T$ spectra, with increased yields at moderate transverse momenta and suppressed tails at high $p_T$. The work extends precision Higgs phenomenology in gluon-fusion to the $Hjjj$ final state and demonstrates the feasibility of complex multi-jet NLO calculations, providing more accurate theoretical inputs for LHC analyses and background modeling.

Abstract

We report on the calculation of the cross section for Higgs boson production in association with three jets via gluon fusion, at next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy in QCD, in the infinite top-mass approximation. After including the complete NLO QCD corrections, we observe a strong reduction in the scale dependence of the result, and an increased steepness in the transverse momentum distributions of both the Higgs and the leading jets. The results are obtained with the combined use of GoSam, Sherpa, and the MadDipole/MadEvent framework.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Sample hexagon diagrams which enter in the six-parton one-loop amplitudes for $q {\bar{q}} \to H q {\bar{q}} g$ and $gg \to H g g g$. The dot represents the effective $g g H$ vertex.
• Figure 2: Scale dependence of the total cross section at LO and NLO.
• Figure 3: Transverse momentum ($p_T$) distributions for the first, second, and third leading jet.
• Figure 4: Transverse momentum ($p_T$) distributions for the Higgs boson.
• Figure 5: Finite-term $a_0$ of the virtual matrix-elements for $q {\bar{q}} \to H q' {\bar{q}'} g$ (green), $q {\bar{q}} \to H q {\bar{q}} g$ (blue), $gg \to H q {\bar{q}} g$ (orange), $gg \to H g g g$ (red).