Factorization of e+e- Event Shape Distributions with Hadronic Final States in Soft Collinear Effective Theory

TL;DR

This paper develops a new approach within soft collinear effective theory to analyze two-jet event shape distributions, expressing them through vacuum matrix elements without assuming complete factorization of hadronic states.

Contribution

It extends previous results by expressing a broad class of event shape distributions in terms of vacuum matrix elements, avoiding the assumption of full state factorization.

Findings

Distribution expressions in terms of vacuum matrix elements

Matching of matrix elements to the full theory in the two-jet limit

Discussion of relation to diagrammatic factorization

Abstract

We present a new analysis of two-jet event shape distributions in soft collinear effective theory. Extending previous results, we observe that a large class of such distributions can be expressed in terms of vacuum matrix elements of operators in the effective theory. We match these matrix elements to the full theory in the two-jet limit without assuming factorization of the complete set of hadronic final states into independent sums over partonic collinear and soft states. We also briefly discuss the relationship of this approach to diagrammatic factorization in the full theory.