Precise QCD predictions for the production of a photon pair in association with two jets

TL;DR

This paper presents next-to-leading order QCD calculations for high-mass photon pairs with two jets, enabling precise predictions crucial for Higgs boson studies and revealing significant effects of higher-order corrections on distribution shapes.

Contribution

First NLO QCD predictions for photon pair production with two jets, improving accuracy for Higgs-related analyses.

Findings

Reliable absolute normalization achieved

Higher-order effects significantly alter distribution shapes

Perturbative corrections are essential for precision Higgs studies

Abstract

We compute the cross section for the production of a high-mass photon pair in association with two hadronic jets to next-to-leading order (NLO) in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Our results allow for the first time to reliably predict the absolute normalisation of this process, and demonstrate that the shape of important kinematical distributions is modified by higher-order effects. The perturbative corrections will be an important ingredient to precision studies of Higgs boson properties from its production in association with two jets.