Abstract
We compute the $O(\alpha_s \alpha^2)$ and $O(\alpha_s^2 \alpha)$ contributions to the production cross section of a $Z$ boson with one $b$ jet at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and study their phenomenological relevance for LHC physics. The accurate prediction of hadronic $Z+b$-jet production is needed to control a background that greatly affects both the measurement of Higgs-boson properties and searches of new physics at the LHC. At the same time it could enable the first precise measurement of the $b$-quark parton distribution function. In this context $b$-quark mass effects become relevant and need to be studied with care, both at the level of the hard process and at the level of the initial- and final-state parton evolution. It is the aim of this paper to explore some of these issues in the framework of a massive 5 Flavor Scheme and to assess the need for both the inclusion of electroweak corrections, in addition to QCD corrections, and $b$-quark mass effects in the prediction of total and differential cross sections for hadronic $Z+b$-jet production.
Highlights
The production of a Z boson with one or more b jets plays a very important role in the physics program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) both for direct searches of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) and for precision measurements of SM processes that could reveal deviations induced by new physics beyond the direct reach of the LHC
It was first computed in Ref. [20] for massless b quarks, and the corresponding calculation is implemented in MCFM [21]. We have reproduced it independently in this paper, where we extend it to the case of a massive b quark in order to consistently compare the impact of next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD and EW corrections, and in order to assess nonzero b-quark mass effects by comparing massive and massless NLO QCD results
In this paper we have considered the production of a Z boson with at least one b jet as a phenomenologically interesting testing ground to assess the impact of finite initial-state b-quark masses and to evaluate the relevance of a still missing piece of NLO corrections, the combined QCD and EW NLO corrections
Summary
The production of a Z boson with one or more b jets plays a very important role in the physics program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) both for direct searches of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) and for precision measurements of SM processes that could reveal deviations induced by new physics beyond the direct reach of the LHC. Z þ b jet(s) is an important reducible and irreducible background to several SM and beyond the SM (BSM) processes involving Z bosons and jets.
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