Drell-Yan lepton pair production at high energies in the kt-factorization approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates high-energy Drell-Yan lepton pair production using the kt-factorization approach, incorporating off-shell matrix elements, spin correlations, and interference effects, and compares predictions with collider data.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed kt-factorization calculation for Drell-Yan processes including full spin and interference effects, and compares results with recent experimental data.

Findings

Predictions agree well with Tevatron and LHC data.

First analysis of recent CDF angular distribution measurements.

Highlights importance of spin correlations and interference in modeling.

Abstract

In the framework of the kt-factorization approach, the production of unpolarized Drell-Yan lepton pair at high energies is studied. The consideration is based on the O(alpha) and $O(alpha alpha_s) off-shell partonic matrix elements with virtual photon and Z boson exchange. The calculations include leptonic decays of Z bosons with full spin correlations as well as gamma - Z interference. The unintegrated parton densities in a proton are determined by the Kimber-Martin-Ryskin prescription. Our numerical predictions are compared with the data taken by the D0, CDF and CMS collaborations at the Tevatron and LHC energies. Special attention is put on the specific angular distributions measured very recently by the CDF collaboration for the first time.