Four-Jet Production at the Large Hadron Collider at Next-to-Leading Order in QCD

TL;DR

This paper calculates four-jet production cross sections at the LHC using next-to-leading order QCD, employing advanced computational tools and comparing results with ATLAS data to improve theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combination of the BlackHat library, SHERPA, and a new amplitude assembly algorithm for precise four-jet cross section calculations at NLO in QCD.

Findings

Calculated four-jet cross sections at NLO in QCD.

Compared theoretical predictions with ATLAS data, including nonperturbative corrections.

Provided a flexible framework for future computations with different parameters.

Abstract

We present the cross sections for production of up to four jets at the Large Hadron Collider, at next-to-leading order in the QCD coupling. We use the BlackHat library in conjunction with SHERPA and a recently developed algorithm for assembling primitive amplitudes into color-dressed amplitudes. We adopt the cuts used by ATLAS in their study of multi-jet events in pp collisions at \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV. We include estimates of nonperturbative corrections and compare to ATLAS data. We store intermediate results in a framework that allows the inexpensive computation of additional results for different choices of scale or parton distributions.