$Z$-boson hadronic decay width up to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^4)$-order QCD corrections using the single-scale approach of the principle of maximum conformality

TL;DR

This paper calculates the Z-boson hadronic decay width using high-order QCD corrections with the principle of maximum conformality, achieving a scale-independent and more convergent perturbative series that aligns well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a PMC single-scale approach to compute the Z-boson decay width at $ ext{O}( ext{α}_s^4)$, reducing scale dependence and suppressing unknown higher-order contributions.

Findings

The perturbative series becomes more convergent after applying PMC.

The unknown $ ext{O}( ext{α}_s^5)$ contributions are highly suppressed.

The final prediction agrees with experimental measurements within uncertainties.

Abstract

In the paper, we study the properties of the $Z$-boson hadronic decay width by using the $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^4)$-order quantum chromodynamics (QCD) corrections with the help of the principle of maximum conformality (PMC). By using the PMC single-scale approach, we obtain an accurate renormalization scale-and-scheme independent perturbative QCD (pQCD) correction for the $Z$-boson hadronic decay width, which is independent to any choice of renormalization scale. After applying the PMC, a more convergent pQCD series has been obtained; and the contributions from the unknown $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^5)$-order terms are highly suppressed, e.g. conservatively, we have $\Delta \Gamma_{\rm Z}^{\rm had}|^{{\cal O}(\alpha_s^5)}_{\rm PMC}\simeq \pm 0.004$ MeV. In combination with the known electro-weak (EW) corrections, QED corrections, EW-QCD mixed corrections, and QED-QCD mixed corrections, our final prediction of the hadronic $Z$ decay width is $\Gamma_{\rm Z}^{\rm had}=1744.439^{+1.390}_{-1.433}$ MeV, which agrees with the PDG global fit of experimental measurements, $1744.4\pm 2.0$ MeV.