Dominant mixed QCD-electroweak $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s\alpha)$ corrections to Drell-Yan processes in the resonance region

TL;DR

This paper calculates the dominant mixed QCD-electroweak corrections to W/Z boson production in the resonance region, crucial for precise measurements of fundamental parameters like the W-boson mass.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for computing factorizable mixed corrections and estimates their impact on key electroweak measurements, improving theoretical precision.

Findings

Factorizable corrections significantly affect W/Z production predictions

Final-final corrections are numerically negligible

Comparison shows improved accuracy over naive correction combinations

Abstract

A precise theoretical description of W- and Z-boson production in the resonance region is essential for the correct interpretation of high-precision measurements of the W-boson mass and the effective weak mixing angle. Currently, the largest unknown fixed-order contribution is given by the mixed QCD-electroweak corrections of $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s\alpha)$. We argue, using the framework of the pole expansion for the NNLO QCD-electroweak corrections established in a previous paper, that the numerically dominant corrections arise from the combination of large QCD corrections to the production with the large electroweak corrections to the decay of the W/Z boson. We calculate these so-called factorizable corrections of "initial-final" type and estimate the impact on the W-boson mass extraction. We compare our results to simpler approximate combinations of electroweak and QCD corrections in terms of naive products of NLO QCD and electroweak correction factors and using leading-logarithmic approximations for QED final-state radiation as provided by the structure-function approach or QED parton-shower programs. We also compute corrections of "final-final" type, which are given by finite counterterms to the leptonic vectorboson decays and are found to be numerically negligible.