Threshold resummation for dijet cross sections

Abstract

We construct dijet differential cross sections at large momentum transfer, in which threshold logarithms have been summed to all orders in perturbation theory. This extends previous work on heavy quark production, by treating collinear singularities associated with hard, massless partons in the final state. The resummed corrections enable us to define, in the sense of factorization, the underlying color exchange mechanism. The influence of color exchange on the resummed cross section is contained in the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of an anomalous dimension matrix, which describes the factorization of coherent soft gluons from the hard scattering. The precise formulas depend on the partonic scattering angles and energies, as well as on the method used to define the jets in the final state. For cone dijets at fixed invariant mass, we find leading logarithmic corrections that, like those in the Drell-Yan process, are positive, and which grow with increasing dijet invariant mass. Other choices of dijet cross section can give, however, qualitatively different behavior, even at leading logarithm.