Antenna subtraction for processes with identified particles at hadron colliders

TL;DR

This paper extends the antenna subtraction method to include hadron fragmentation processes in hadronic collisions at NNLO, enabling precise higher-order QCD calculations involving identified hadrons.

Contribution

It introduces fragmentation antenna functions in initial-final kinematics for the antenna subtraction method at NNLO, advancing theoretical tools for collider processes with identified hadrons.

Findings

Extended antenna subtraction to fragmentation processes at NNLO.

Derived fragmentation antenna functions with momentum fraction dependence.

Facilitated more accurate higher-order QCD predictions for collider experiments.

Abstract

Collider processes with identified hadrons in the final state are widely studied in view of determining details of the proton structure and of understanding hadronization. Their theory description requires the introduction of fragmentation functions, which parametrise the transition of a produced parton into the identified hadron. To compute higher-order perturbative corrections to these processes requires a subtraction method for infrared singular configurations. We extend the antenna subtraction method to hadron fragmentation processes in hadronic collisions up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD by computing the required fragmentation antenna functions in initial-final kinematics. The integrated antenna functions retain their dependence on the momentum fractions of the incoming and fragmenting partons.