Precision electroweak calculation of the charged current Drell-Yan process

TL;DR

This work delivers a precision electroweak calculation of the charged-current Drell–Yan process by combining exact ${ m O}(oldsymbol{ riangle})$ EW corrections with leading-log resummation of multiple-photon emission, implemented through a novel matching framework in HORACE. The authors carefully treat initial-state QED collinear singularities, employ MRST2004QED PDFs, and provide a hadron-level cross section that remains infrared-safe and quark-mass independent. Numerical results across multiple observables (W transverse mass, rapidities, charge asymmetry, and photon observables) reveal corrections from a few per mille to several tens of percent in tails, highlighting the impact on $m_W$ measurements and new-boson searches. The study establishes a foundational EW–QED matching approach that can be extended to include full EW corrections to Z production and eventual integration with QCD corrections for a unified precision tool in collider phenomenology.

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the charged current Drell-Yan process, which includes the exact O(alpha) electroweak corrections properly matched with leading-log effects due to multiple-photon emission, as required by the experiments at the Tevatron and the LHC. Numerical results for the relevant observables of single W boson production at hadron colliders are presented. The impact of the radiative corrections and of some sources of theoretical uncertainty is discussed in detail. The calculation has been implemented in the new version of the event generator HORACE, which is available for precision simulations of the charged current Drell-Yan process.

Figures (16)

• Figure 1: Some examples of one-loop virtual diagrams.
• Figure 2: ${\cal O}(\alpha)~$ bremsstrahlung diagrams.
• Figure 3: Transverse mass distribution in Born, ${\cal O}(\alpha)~$ and best approximations.
• Figure 4: Relative corrections with respect to the Born cross section due to the exact ${\cal O}(\alpha)~$ corrections for muons and recombined electrons final states.
• Figure 5: Relative corrections with respect to the Born cross section due to the exact ${\cal O}(\alpha)~$ corrections for muons and recombined electrons final states.