Photon-initiated processes at high mass

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the role of photon-initiated processes in high-mass particle production, showing that photon PDFs are well constrained at relevant scales and can significantly impact high-mass W boson pair production at colliders.

Contribution

It provides a detailed assessment of photon PDFs at high x, demonstrating their uncertainties are manageable and highlighting their importance in high-mass collider processes.

Findings

Photon PDFs are well determined at relevant scales.

Photon-initiated processes have a small impact on high-mass lepton production.

Photon contributions can be significant for high-mass W boson pairs.

Abstract

We consider the influence of photon-initiated processes on high-mass particle production. We discuss in detail the photon PDF at relatively high parton $x$, relevant to such processes, and evaluate its uncertainties. In particular we show that, as the dominant contribution to the input photon distribution is due to coherent photon emission, at phenomenologically relevant scales the photon PDF is already well determined in this region, with the corresponding uncertainties under good control. We then demonstrate the implications of this result for the example processes of high-mass lepton and $W$ boson pair production at the LHC and FCC. While for the former process the photon-initiated contribution is expected to be small, in the latter case we find that it is potentially significant, in particular at larger masses.