$b$ quark mass effects in associated production

TL;DR

This paper introduces the 5F massive scheme (5FMS) for $b$ quark production, incorporating full mass effects in initial and final states, and implements it in Sherpa for LHC processes.

Contribution

The paper develops and implements a new 5F massive scheme (5FMS) that retains $b$ quark mass effects in Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

5FMS scheme accurately models $b$ quark mass effects.

Comparison shows differences between 5FMS and massless schemes.

Implementation in Sherpa enables improved LHC process simulations.

Abstract

In this work we study an extension of the commonly used 5F scheme, where $b$ quarks are treated as massless partons, in which full mass effects are retained in both the initial and in the final state. We name this scheme 5F massive scheme (5FMS). We implement this scheme in the \Sherpa Monte Carlo event generator at MEPS@NLO accuracy, and we compare it for two relevant cases for the LHC: $b\bar{b} \rightarrow H$ and $pp\rightarrow Zb$.