Third order QCD predictions for fiducial W-boson production

TL;DR

This paper presents advanced third-order QCD calculations for W-boson production at the LHC, improving theoretical precision to match experimental measurements and aiding fundamental parameter determinations.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive third-order QCD prediction for W-boson production, including transverse-momentum resummation and matching to W+jet NNLO calculations, enhancing theoretical accuracy.

Findings

Predictions match ATLAS measurements at 5.02 TeV

Impact of modern PDFs analyzed in detail

Calculation will be available in CuTe-MCFM for broader use

Abstract

Measurements of W-boson production at the LHC have reached percent-level precision and impose challenging demands on theoretical predictions. Such predictions directly limit the precision of measurements of fundamental quantities such as the W-boson mass and the weak mixing angle. A dominant source of uncertainty in predictions is from higher-order QCD effects. We present a calculation of W-boson production at the level of $\alpha_s^3$ at fixed order and including transverse-momentum resummation. We further show predictions for a direct comparison with low-pileup ATLAS transverse-momentum and fiducial cross-section measurements at $\sqrt{s}=5.02\text{ TeV}$. We discuss in detail the impact of modern PDFs. Our calculation including the matching to W+jet production at NNLO will be publicly available the upcoming CuTe-MCFM release and allows for theory-data comparison at the state-of-the-art level.