Transverse Momentum Spectra at Threshold for Groomed Heavy Quark Jets

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework using effective field theories to predict the transverse momentum spectrum of heavy hadrons in groomed jets, with applications in heavy quark physics and quark-gluon plasma studies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel EFT approach combining SCET and HQET for the transverse momentum spectrum in groomed heavy quark jets, including non-perturbative effects and shape functions.

Findings

Identifies two regimes of the transverse momentum spectrum for B mesons.

Predicts the scaling behavior of non-perturbative power corrections.

Shows the spectrum's shape is independent of jet energy over a large range.

Abstract

We present the transverse momentum spectrum for a heavy hadron at threshold in a groomed jet initiated by a heavy quark. The cross section is doubly differential in the energy fraction of an identified heavy hadron in the jet and its transverse momentum measured with respect to the groomed (recoil free) jet axis. The grooming is implemented using a soft-drop grooming algorithm and helps us in mitigating the effects of Non-Global logarithms and pile up. For the particular case of a $B$ meson, we identify two distinct regimes of the transverse momentum spectrum and develop an EFT within the formalisms of Soft Collineat Effective Theory (SCET) and Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) for each of these regions. We show how each region can be matched smoothly into the other to provide a prediction for the perturbative transverse momentum spectrum. The EFT also predicts the scaling behavior of the leading non-perturbative power corrections and implements a simple shape function to account for hadronization. We work in the threshold region where the heavy hadron carries most of the energy of the jet since in this regime, we have a very good discriminating power between heavy quark and gluon initiated jets. We observe that the shape of the spectrum is independent of the energy of the jet over a large range of transverse momentum. We propose that this spectrum can be used as a probe of evolution for heavy quark TMD fragmentation function. At the same time, it can be treated as a jet substructure observable for probing Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP).