A Positive-Weight Next-to-Leading Order Monte Carlo Simulation of Drell-Yan Vector Boson Production

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel positive-weight NLO Monte Carlo simulation for Drell-Yan vector boson production, integrating NLO calculations with parton showers in Herwig++, and validating against Tevatron and LHC data.

Contribution

It introduces a positive-weight NLO matching scheme with a full implementation of the truncated shower in Herwig++, improving accuracy in vector boson production simulations.

Findings

Good agreement with Tevatron W and Z data

Accurate predictions for LHC gauge boson transverse momentum spectrum

First implementation of truncated shower in this context

Abstract

The positive weight next-to-leading-order (NLO) matching scheme (POWHEG) is applied to Drell-Yan vector boson production in the Herwig++ Monte Carlo event generator. This approach consistently combines the NLO calculation and parton shower simulation, without the production of negative weight events. The simulation includes a full implementation of the truncated shower required to correctly describe soft emissions in an angular-ordered parton shower, for the first time. The results are compared with Tevatron W and Z production data and predictions for the transverse momentum spectrum of gauge bosons at the LHC presented.