Automated event generation for S-wave quarkonium and leptonium production in NRQCD and NRQED

TL;DR

This paper introduces an extension to MadGraph5_aMC@NLO that automates leading-order calculations for S-wave quarkonium and leptonium production within NRQCD and NRQED, enhancing phenomenological research capabilities.

Contribution

It provides a new automated framework integrated with MadGraph5_aMC@NLO for calculating quarkonium and leptonium production cross sections in NRQCD and NRQED.

Findings

Validated against benchmark processes demonstrating robustness.

Seamless integration with existing MadGraph features.

Supports Beyond Standard Model and Effective Field Theory scenarios.

Abstract

We present an extension of the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework that enables the automated calculation of leading-order cross sections for S-wave quarkonium and leptonium production within the non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) and non-relativistic QED (NRQED) factorisation formalisms. The framework has been validated against a variety of benchmark processes, demonstrating robustness and flexibility for phenomenological studies. A key advantage of this implementation is its seamless integration with existing MadGraph5_aMC@NLO features, allowing computations not only within the Standard Model but also in a wide range of Beyond the Standard Model or Effective Field Theory scenarios via a modified Universal Feynman Output (UFO) interface. Furthermore, the framework maintains compatibility with standard Monte Carlo event generators for parton showering and hadronisation. Through numerous examples, we highlight that theoretical studies of quarkonium processes require careful consideration: the impact of subleading contributions is often difficult to predict using simple counting arguments based solely on the hierarchy of couplings and velocity-scaling rules.