Vector-boson fusion Higgs production at N$^3$LO in QCD

TL;DR

This paper presents the calculation of N$^3$LO QCD corrections for vector-boson fusion Higgs production, significantly reducing theoretical uncertainties and providing precise predictions for collider experiments.

Contribution

The first N$^3$LO QCD correction calculation for VBF Higgs production, including differential distributions and uncertainty estimates, advancing precision in theoretical predictions.

Findings

Corrections are at 1-2 permille level, within NNLO scale uncertainties.

Scale uncertainty at N$^3$LO is below 2 permille.

Theoretical uncertainties from PDFs are also assessed.

Abstract

We calculate the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order (N$^3$LO) QCD corrections to inclusive vector-boson fusion (VBF) Higgs production at proton colliders, in the limit in which there is no colour exchange between the hadronic systems associated with the two colliding protons. We also provide differential cross sections for the Higgs transverse momentum and rapidity distributions. We find that the corrections are at the 1-2 permille level, well within the scale-uncertainty of the next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) calculation. The associated scale-uncertainty of the N$^3$LO calculation is typically found to be below the 2 permille level. We also consider theoretical uncertainties due to missing higher order parton distribution functions, and provide an estimate of their importance.