Exploring high-purity multi-parton scattering at hadron colliders

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new method to better isolate and study multi-parton interactions in high-energy hadron collisions, enabling detailed analysis of their properties and structure at the LHC.

Contribution

It introduces an optimized strategy to disentangle multi-parton interactions from primary scatterings, advancing the experimental and theoretical understanding of these phenomena.

Findings

Enhanced probes of multi-parton interaction scales

Insights into primary-secondary scatter interconnection

Potential to observe multiple simultaneous hard scatterings

Abstract

Multi-parton interactions are a fascinating phenomenon that occur in almost every high-energy hadron--hadron collision, yet are remarkably difficult to study quantitatively. In this letter we present a strategy to optimally disentangle multi-parton interactions from the primary scattering in a collision. That strategy enables probes of multi-parton interactions that are significantly beyond the state of the art, including their characteristic momentum scale, the interconnection between primary and secondary scatters, and the pattern of three and potentially even more simultaneous hard scatterings. This opens a path to powerful new constraints on multi-parton interactions for LHC phenomenology and to the investigation of their rich field-theoretical structure.