Electroweak corrections to three-jet production in electron-positron annihilation

TL;DR

This paper calculates electroweak corrections to three-jet production in electron-positron collisions, accounting for experimental photon isolation and total cross section corrections, with effects at a few percent level.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed computation of electroweak ${ m O}(\alpha^3\alpha_s)$ corrections to three-jet observables, including experimental photon isolation effects.

Findings

Corrections are at the few-percent level for three-jet rates.

Electroweak effects significantly impact normalized event-shape distributions.

Proper accounting for photon isolation is essential for accurate predictions.

Abstract

We compute the electroweak ${\cal O}(\alpha^3\alpha_s)$ corrections to three-jet production and related event-shape observables at electron-positron colliders. We properly account for the experimental photon isolation criteria and for the corrections to the total hadronic cross section. Corrections to the three-jet rate and to normalised event-shape distributions turn out to be at the few-per-cent level.