Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order Higgs Production at Hadron Colliders

TL;DR

The paper presents a next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD calculation of Higgs production via gluon fusion at hadron colliders in the heavy-top limit using an effective Lagrangian. It expands the double-real emission contributions around the soft limit and validates the approach through pole cancellation checks and cross-checks with Drell-Yan results, correcting an error in the known NNLO Drell-Yan calculation. The NNLO corrections exhibit good perturbative convergence and reduced scale dependence when combined with NNLO PDFs, strengthening the reliability of Higgs cross-section predictions for the LHC and Tevatron. These results significantly reduce theoretical uncertainties in Higgs searches and measurements at hadron colliders.

Abstract

The Higgs boson production cross section at pp and p\bar{p} colliders is calculated in QCD at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). We find that the perturbative expansion of the production cross section is well behaved and that scale dependence is reduced relative to the NLO result. These findings give us confidence in the reliability of the prediction. We also report an error in the NNLO correction to Drell-Yan production.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: LO ( dotted), NLO ( dashed) and NNLO ( solid) cross sections for Higgs production at the LHC ($\mu_F = \mu_R = M_H$). In each case, we weight the cross section by the ratio of the LO cross section in the full theory ($M_t = 175$ GeV) to the LO cross section in the effective theory (Eq. (\ref{['eq::efflag']})).
• Figure 2: $K$-factor for Higgs production at the LHC. Each line corresponds to a different order in the expansion in $(1-x)$. The renormalization and factorization scales are set to $M_H$.
• Figure 3: Scale dependence at the LHC. The lower curve of each pair corresponds to $\mu_R = 2M_H$, $\mu_F=M_H/2$, the upper to $\mu_R =M_H/2$, $\mu_F=2M_H$. The $K$-factor is computed with respect to the LO cross section at $\mu_R = \mu_F =M_H$.
• Figure 4: Scale dependence for Tevatron Run II. The lower curve of each pair corresponds to $\mu_R = \mu_F = 2M_H$, the upper to $\mu_R = \mu_F = M_H/2$.