Parton distributions in the LHC era: MMHT 2014 PDFs

TL;DR

This paper presents updated parton distribution functions (PDFs) for the proton, derived from global analyses including new LHC, Tevatron, and HERA data, improving upon previous sets and providing more accurate predictions for high-energy physics.

Contribution

The MMHT2014 PDFs incorporate new experimental data and theoretical improvements, offering a significant update over the MSTW2008 sets within the same framework.

Findings

Most PDFs are within one standard deviation of previous sets.

Major updates include the u-d valence quark difference at small x and the strange quark PDF.

Comparison shows consistency with other contemporary PDF sets like NNPDF3.0.

Abstract

We present LO, NLO and NNLO sets of parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton determined from global analyses of the available hard scattering data. These MMHT2014 PDFs supersede the `MSTW2008' parton sets, but are obtained within the same basic framework. We include a variety of new data sets, from the LHC, updated Tevatron data and the HERA combined H1 and ZEUS data on the total and charm structure functions. We also improve the theoretical framework of the previous analysis. These new PDFs are compared to the `MSTW2008' parton sets. In most cases the PDFs, and the predictions, are within one standard deviation of those of MSTW2008. The major changes are the $u-d$ valence quark difference at small $x$ due to an improved parameterisation and, to a lesser extent, the strange quark PDF due to the effect of certain LHC data and a better treatment of the $D \to \mu$ branching ratio. We compare our MMHT PDF sets with those of other collaborations; in particular with the NNPDF3.0 sets, which are contemporary with the present analysis.