Next-to-Leading Order W + 5-Jet Production at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper provides the first next-to-leading order QCD predictions for W + 5-jet production at the LHC, including cross sections and distributions, using advanced computational tools.

Contribution

It introduces the first NLO QCD calculation for W + 5-jet production at the LHC, extending previous multi-jet analyses and providing extrapolation methods for higher jet multiplicities.

Findings

Predicted total cross sections and transverse momentum distributions.

Ratios of total cross sections for different jet multiplicities.

An extrapolation formula for even larger jet numbers.

Abstract

We present next-to-leading order QCD predictions for the total cross section and for a comprehensive set of transverse-momentum distributions in W + 5-jet production at the Large Hadron Collider. We neglect the small contributions from subleading-color virtual terms, top quarks and some terms containing four quark pairs. We also present ratios of total cross sections, and use them to obtain an extrapolation formula to an even larger number of jets. We include the decay of the $W$ boson into leptons. This is the first such computation with six final-state vector bosons or jets. We use BlackHat together with SHERPA to carry out the computation.