Triple Prompt J/ψ Hadroproduction as a Hard Probe of Multiple-Parton Scatterings.

We propose that the process of triple prompt J/ψ hadroproduction is a very clean hard probe of multiple-parton scatterings at high-energy hadron colliders, especially the least known triple-parton scattering. A first complete study is carried out by considering single-, double-, and triple-parton scatterings coherently. Our calculation shows that it is a golden channel to probe double- and triple-parton scatterings, as the single-parton scattering is strongly suppressed. The predictions of the (differential) cross sections in proton-proton collisions at the LHC and future higher-energy hadron colliders are given. Our study shows that its measurement is already feasible with the existing data collected during the period of the LHC run 2. A method is proposed to extract the triple-parton scattering contribution, and therefore it paves a way to study the possible triple-parton correlations in a proton.

Gluon Shadowing in Heavy-Flavor Production at the LHC.

We study the relevance of experimental data on heavy-flavor [D^{0}, J/ψ, B→J/ψ and ϒ(1S) mesons] production in proton-lead collisions at the LHC to improve our knowledge of the gluon-momentum distribution inside heavy nuclei. We observe that the nuclear effects encoded in both most recent global fits of nuclear parton densities at next-to-leading order (nCTEQ15 and EPPS16) provide a good overall description of the LHC data. We interpret this as a hint that these are the dominant ones. In turn, we perform a Bayesian-reweighting analysis for each particle data sample which shows that each of the existing heavy-quark(onium) data set clearly points-with a minimal statistical significance of 7σ-to a shadowed gluon distribution at small x in the lead. Moreover, our analysis corroborates the existence of gluon antishadowing. Overall, the inclusion of such heavy-flavor data in a global fit would significantly reduce the uncertainty on the gluon density down to x≃7×10^{-6}-where no other data exist-while keeping an agreement with the other data of the global fits. Our study accounts for the factorization-scale uncertainties which dominate for the charm(onium) sector.

Complete Study of Hadroproduction of a ϒ Meson Associated with a Prompt J/ψ.

We present the first complete study of ϒ and prompt J/ψ production from single-parton scattering, including the complete O(α_{S}^{6}) color-singlet contribution, the O(α_{S}^{2}α^{2}) electroweak contribution, and the complete nonrelativistic S-wave and P-wave color-octet contribution as well as the feeddown contribution. Our study was motivated by the recent evidence reported by the D0 Collaboration of prompt J/ψ and ϒ simultaneous production at the Tevatron. With our complete evaluation, we are able to refine the determination of the double-parton scattering contribution made by the D0 Collaboration. We find that the effective cross section characterizing the importance of double-parton scatterings is σ_{eff}≤8.2 mb at 68% confidence level from the D0 measurement.

η(c) production at LHC and implications for the understanding of J/ψ production.

We present a complete evaluation for the prompt η_{c} production at the LHC at next-to-leading order in α_{s} in nonrelativistic QCD. By assuming heavy-quark spin symmetry, the recently observed η_{c} production data by LHCb results in a very strong constraint on the upper bound of the color-octet long-distance matrix element ⟨O^{J/ψ}(^{1}S_{0}^{[8]})⟩ of J/ψ. We find this upper bound is consistent with our previous study of the J/ψ yield and polarization and can give good descriptions for the measurements, but the upper bound is inconsistent with some other theoretical estimates. This may provide important information for understanding the nonrelativistic QCD factorization formalism.

Polarizations of χc1 and χc2 in prompt production at the LHC.

Prompt χc production at hadron colliders may provide a unique test for the color-octet mechanism in nonrelativistic QCD. We present an analysis for the polarization observables of χc1 and χc2 at next-to-leading order in αS and propose to measure them at the LHC, which is expected to be important for testing the validity of nonrelativistic QCD.

Production of J / ψ + η(c) versus J / ψ + J / ψ at the LHC: importance of real α(s)(5) corrections.

We proceed for the first time to the evaluation of the Born cross section for J / ψ + η(c) production, namely, via g + g → J/ψ+ η(c) + g, and show that it has a harder P(T) spectrum than the J/ψ-pair yield at the Born level. If one stuck to a comparison at the Born level, one would conclude that J / ψ + η(c) production would surpass that of J / ψ + J / ψ at large P(T). This is nonetheless not the case since J / ψ-pair production, as for single J / ψ, receives leading-P(T) contributions at higher orders in α(s). We also present the first evaluation of these leading-P(T) next-to-leading order contributions. These are indeed significant for increasing P(T) and are of essential relevance for comparison with forthcoming data. We also compute kinematic correlations relevant for double-parton-scattering studies. Finally, we evaluate the polarization of a J/ψ accompanied by either an η(c) or a J/ψ and another light parton. These results may be of great help to understand the polarization of quarkonia produced at high energies.

J/ψ polarization at hadron colliders in nonrelativistic QCD.

With nonrelativistic QCD factorization, we present a full next-to-leading order computation of the polarization observable for J/ψ production at hadron colliders including all important Fock states, i.e., 3S(1)([1,8]), 1S(0)([8]), and 3P(J)([8]). We find the 3P(J)([8]) channel contributes a positive longitudinal component and a negative transverse component, so the J/ψ polarization puzzle may be understood as the transverse components canceling between the 3S(1)([8]) and 3P(J)([8]) channels, which results in mainly the unpolarized (even slightly longitudinally polarized) J/ψ. This may give a possible solution to the long-standing J/ψ polarization puzzle. Predictions for J/ψ polarization at the LHC are also presented.

Precise predictions for same-sign W-boson scattering at the LHC.

Vector-boson scattering processes are of great importance for the current run-II and future runs of the Large Hadron Collider. The presence of triple and quartic gauge couplings in the process gives access to the gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) and possible new-physics contributions there. To test any new-physics hypothesis, sound knowledge of the SM contributions is necessary, with a precision which at least matches the experimental uncertainties of existing and forthcoming measurements. In this article we present a detailed study of the vector-boson scattering process with two positively-charged leptons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In particular, we first carry out a systematic comparison of the various approximations that are usually performed for this kind of process against the complete calculation, at LO and NLO QCD accuracy. Such a study is performed both in the usual fiducial region used by experimental collaborations and in a more inclusive phase space, where the differences among the various approximations lead to more sizeable effects. Afterwards, we turn to predictions matched to parton showers, at LO and NLO: we show that on the one hand, the inclusion of NLO QCD corrections leads to more stable predictions, but on the other hand the details of the matching and of the parton-shower programs cause differences which are considerably larger than those observed at fixed order, even in the experimental fiducial region. We conclude with recommendations for experimental studies of vector-boson scattering processes.

QCD next-to-leading-order predictions matched to parton showers for vector-like quark models.

Vector-like quarks are featured by a wealth of beyond the Standard Model theories and are consequently an important goal of many LHC searches for new physics. Those searches, as well as most related phenomenological studies, however, rely on predictions evaluated at the leading-order accuracy in QCD and consider well-defined simplified benchmark scenarios. Adopting an effective bottom-up approach, we compute next-to-leading-order predictions for vector-like-quark pair production and single production in association with jets, with a weak or with a Higgs boson in a general new physics setup. We additionally compute vector-like-quark contributions to the production of a pair of Standard Model bosons at the same level of accuracy. For all processes under consideration, we focus both on total cross sections and on differential distributions, most these calculations being performed for the first time in our field. As a result, our work paves the way to precise extraction of experimental limits on vector-like quarks thanks to an accurate control of the shapes of the relevant observables and emphasise the extra handles that could be provided by novel vector-like-quark probes never envisaged so far.