Some quantum-chromodynamic corrections to the Drell-Yan formula

Abstract

We study in detail the $O({{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}}^{2})$ quark-quark contribution to lepton-pair production in proton-proton collisions, and corresponding contributions to deep-inelastic scattering. Factorization of leading as well as nonleading mass singularities is explicitly demonstrated, and the remaining finite correction terms are calculated. The contribution to lepton-pair production is found to be numerically very small in the currently accessible kinematic range of $\ensuremath{\tau}=\frac{{{M}_{{l}^{+}{l}^{\ensuremath{-}}}}^{2}}{s}$, although it is increasing with $\ensuremath{\tau}$.