Test of CDF dijet anomaly within the standard model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the CDF dijet anomaly within the standard model by examining how variations in the strange-quark distribution function affect relevant processes, suggesting that the anomaly could be explained without new physics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that modifications in the strange-quark distribution function within the standard model can partially account for the CDF dijet anomaly, emphasizing the importance of parton distribution effects.

Findings

Strange-quark distribution variations influence W+dijet and related processes.

Shape modifications in the dijet-mass distribution can explain the CDF excess.

Effects are also significant in LHC kinematics, affecting cross section predictions.

Abstract

Dijet anomaly reported by the CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) collaboration in 1.96 TeV p-pbar collisions is investigated within the standard model by considering effects of parton distribution functions on various processes: W+dijet, Z+dijet, WW, ZW, and top production. Since the anomalous peak exists in the dijet-mass region of 140 GeV with the p-pbar center-of-mass energy sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV, a relevant momentum fraction x of partons is roughly 0.1. In this x region, recent HERMES semi-inclusive charged-lepton scattering experiment indicated that the strange-quark distribution could be very different from a conventional one, which has been used for many years, based on opposite-sign dimuon measurements in neutrino-induced deep inelastic scattering. We investigated effects of such variations in the strange-quark distribution s(x) on the anomaly. We found that distributions of W+dijets and other process are affected by the strange-quark modifications in wide dijet-mass regions including the 140 GeV one. Since the CDF anomaly was observed in the shoulder region of the dijet-mass distribution, a slight modification of the distribution shape could explain at least partially the CDF excess. Therefore, it is important to consider such effects within the standard model for judging whether the CDF anomaly indicates new physics beyond the standard model. We also show modification effects of the strange-quark distribution in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) kinematics, where cross sections are sensitive to a smaller-x region of s(x).