NLO QCD corrections to $W^\pm Z\gamma$ production with leptonic decays

TL;DR

This paper calculates the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to WZγ production at the LHC, including leptonic decays, revealing significant corrections that impact observable distributions and reduce theoretical uncertainties.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive NLO QCD correction calculation for WZγ production with leptonic decays, implemented in a flexible Monte Carlo framework.

Findings

NLO QCD corrections are sizable and exceed leading-order scale uncertainties.

The shape of key observables is significantly affected by the corrections.

The results improve the precision of theoretical predictions for WZγ production.

Abstract

We present a computation of the O(alpha_s) QCD corrections to W^\pm Z \gamma production at the Large Hadron Collider. The photon is considered as real, and we include full leptonic decays for the W and Z bosons. Based on the structure of the VBFNLO program package, we obtain numerical results through a fully flexible Monte Carlo program, which allows to implement general cuts and distributions of the final-state particles. The NLO QCD corrections are sizable and strongly exceed the theory error obtained by a scale variation of the leading-order result. Also, the shapes of relevant observables are significantly altered.