Combined subleading high-energy logarithms and NLO accuracy for W production in association with multiple jets

TL;DR

This paper advances theoretical predictions for W boson production with multiple jets at the LHC by summing high-energy logarithms to NLL accuracy and matching to NLO fixed-order calculations, improving data agreement.

Contribution

It presents the first calculation of all partonic channels at NLL order for W+jets and implements bin-by-bin matching to NLO, enhancing the precision of high-energy QCD predictions.

Findings

Improved agreement with experimental data in high-energy regions.

First NLL calculation for all relevant partonic channels in W+jets.

Systematic enhancement over leading-logarithmic approximations.

Abstract

Large logarithmic corrections in $\hat s/p_t^2$ lead to substantial variations in the perturbative predictions for inclusive $W$-plus-dijet processes at the Large Hadron Collider. This instability can be cured by summing the leading-logarithmic contributions in $\hat s/p_t^2$ to all orders in $\alpha_s$. As expected though, leading logarithmic accuracy is insufficient to guarantee a suitable description in regions of phase space away from the high energy limit. We present (i) the first calculation of all partonic channels contributing at next-to-leading logarithmic order in $W$-boson production in association with at least two jets, and (ii) bin-by-bin matching to next-to-leading fixed-order accuracy. This new perturbative input is implemented in \emph{High Energy Jets}, and systematically improves the description of available experimental data in regions of phase space which are formally subleading with respect to $\hat s/p_t^2$.