Simulated NNLO for high-pT observables in vector boson + jets production at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper uses the LoopSim method to approximate NNLO QCD corrections for high-pT vector boson plus jets production at the LHC, revealing substantial effects on key observables and reducing theoretical uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of LoopSim merging NLO samples to estimate dominant NNLO corrections for high-pT observables in vector boson plus jets processes.

Findings

NNLO corrections are significant for high-pT distributions.

Scale uncertainties are notably reduced with the new corrections.

The method improves theoretical predictions for LHC vector boson + jets data.

Abstract

We present a study of higher order QCD corrections beyond NLO to processes with an electroweak vector boson, W or Z, in association with jets. We focus on the regions of high transverse momenta of commonly used differential distributions. We employ the LoopSim method to merge NLO samples of different multiplicity obtained from MCFM and from BLACKHAT+SHERPA in order to compute the dominant part of the NNLO corrections for high-pT observables. We find that these corrections are indeed substantial for a number of experimentally relevant observables. For other observables, they lead to significant reduction of scale uncertainties.