University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Collinear singularities and the factorization scale in perturbative QCD

McElmurry, Thomas James

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/34786

Description

Title
Collinear singularities and the factorization scale in perturbative QCD
Author(s)
McElmurry, Thomas James
Issue Date
2006-10
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Willenbrock, Scott S.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Heavy Quarks
  • Z Boson
  • Higgs
  • Perturbative QCD
Language
en
Abstract
We discuss several issues related to collinear singularities and the choice of the factorization scale in perturbative QCD calculations. First, we argue in favor of the use of a bottom-quark distribution function, which sums collinear logarithms, in the calculation of the cross section for Higgs-boson production in association with bottom quarks. As a testing ground for Higgs searches, we propose a measurement of Z-boson production in association with heavy quarks, using an inclusive heavy-quark tagging technique. Next, we present a calculation of the next-to-leading-order QCD corrections to Drell-Yan production of a W boson, regulating the collinear singularities with a nonzero quark mass and the infrared and ultraviolet singularities with dimensional regularization. Finally, we present the collinear factorization scheme, in which only collinear physics is absorbed into the parton distribution functions. We provide a physically motivated method for choosing the factorization scale in this scheme, and show, for the case of Drell-Yan production of an electroweak gauge boson, that the next-to-leading-order QCD corrections are very small for this choice of factorization scale.
Type of Resource
text
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34786
Copyright and License Information
©2006 Thomas James McElmurry

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