Next-to-next-to-leading order event generation for Z-boson production in association with a bottom-quark pair

TL;DR

This paper presents the first NNLO+PS event generator for Z-boson production with a bottom-quark pair, improving theoretical precision and matching experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel NNLO+PS framework for processes with a color singlet and heavy-quark pair, incorporating two-loop massless bottom corrections and a small-mass expansion.

Findings

NNLO corrections significantly improve predictions.

The approach resolves discrepancies between four- and five-flavour schemes.

Predictions match CMS measurements well.

Abstract

We consider the production of a Z boson decaying to leptons in association with a bottom-quark pair in hadronic collisions. For the first time, we compute predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD, and we combine them with the all-orders radiative corrections from a parton-shower simulation (NNLO+PS). Our method represents the first approach to NNLO+PS event generation applicable to processes featuring a colour singlet and a heavy-quark pair in the final state. The novel two-loop corrections are computed for massless bottom quarks, and the leading mass corrections are restored through a small-mass expansion. The calculation is carried out in the four-flavour scheme, and we find that the sizeable NNLO QCD corrections lift the long-standing tension between lower-order predictions in four- and five-flavour schemes. Our predictions are compared to a CMS measurement for Z boson plus b-jet production, achieving an excellent description of the data.