Probing QCD instantons using jet correlation observables in proton-proton collisions at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper proposes jet correlation observables to identify instanton-induced processes in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, aiming to provide experimental evidence for QCD vacuum topological properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method using jet correlations to distinguish instanton effects from standard perturbative QCD processes at high-energy colliders.

Findings

Calculated instanton sizes and separations in 2+1 flavor QCD with physical quark masses.

Provided constraints on the energy scales of instanton-induced hadron production.

Suggested applicability of the method for future Electron-Ion Collider measurements.

Abstract

Discovery of instantons in colliders will provide experimental evidence for the topological properties of the QCD vacuum. In this work, we propose jet correlation observables that can unambiguously discriminate between instanton-induced processes and perturbative hard scattering events in pp collisions at LHC energies. By calculating the instanton sizes and their separations in 2+1 flavor QCD with physical quark masses, we provide constraints on the center-of-mass energies of the produced hadrons in an instanton-induced process. Our proposal is directly applicable for future ep measurements at the Electron-Ion Collider, offering a cleaner environment to probe instanton-induced processes.