# Precision Probes of QCD at High Energies

## TL;DR

This paper uses high-energy QCD processes at the LHC to measure the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, constraining new physics scales up to 3.5 TeV with current data and projecting future sensitivities up to 60 TeV.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel method to probe heavy new physics via QCD processes and provides the first constraints on a dimension 6 operator affecting the gluon propagator at high energies.

## Key findings

- Current data constrains NP scale to 3.5 TeV.
- Future measurements at 13 and 100 TeV can probe NP scales of 8 and 60 TeV.
- Effective operators can surpass bump hunts in constraining heavy colorons.

## Abstract

New physics, that is too heavy to be produced directly, can leave measurable imprints on the tails of kinematic distributions at the LHC. We use energetic QCD processes to perform novel measurements of the Standard Model (SM) Effective Field Theory. We show that the dijet invariant mass spectrum, and the inclusive jet transverse momentum spectrum, are sensitive to a dimension 6 operator that modifies the gluon propagator at high energies. The dominant effect is constructive or destructive interference with SM jet production. We compare differential next-to-leading order predictions from POWHEG to public 7 TeV jet data, including scale, PDF, and experimental uncertainties and their respective correlations. We constrain a New Physics (NP) scale of 3.5 TeV with current data. We project the reach of future 13 and 100 TeV measurements, which we estimate to be sensitive to NP scales of 8 and 60 TeV, respectively. As an application, we apply our bounds to constrain heavy vector octet colorons that couple to the QCD current. We project that effective operators will surpass bump hunts, in terms of coloron mass reach, even for sequential couplings.