$W$-boson production in association with a jet at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD

TL;DR

This paper provides a complete NNLO QCD calculation for W-boson plus jet production at the LHC, introducing a new subtraction method that reduces theoretical uncertainties and enhances precision in collider measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel subtraction technique based on N-jettiness for NNLO calculations applicable to processes with multiple jets.

Findings

NNLO corrections are small, improving prediction accuracy.

The new method effectively cancels infrared divergences.

Results enable more precise W+jet measurements at the LHC.

Abstract

We present the complete calculation of $W$-boson production in association with a jet in hadronic collisions through next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. To cancel infrared divergences we introduce a new subtraction method that exploits the fact that the $N$-jettiness event-shape variable fully captures the singularity structure of QCD amplitudes with final-state partons. This method holds for processes with an arbitrary number of jets, and is easily implemented into existing frameworks for higher-order calculations. We present initial phenomenological results for $W$+jet production at the LHC. The NNLO corrections are small and lead to a significantly reduced theoretical error, opening the door to precision measurements in the $W$+jet channel at the LHC.