Quantum Corrections to Drell-Yan Production of Z Bosons
Shcherbakova, E., DESY · DESY (CERN, DESY, Fermilab, IHEP, and SLAC) · 2022
In this thesis, we present higher-order corrections to inclusive Z-boson hadroproduction via the Drell-Yan mechanism, h1+h2 → Z+X, at large transverse momentum (qT ). Specifically, we include the QED, QCD and electroweak corrections of orders O(αSα, α 2 Sα, αSα ). We work in the framework of the Standard Model and adopt the MS scheme of renormalization and factorization. The cross section of Z-boson production has been precisely measured at various hadron-hadron colliders, including the Tevatron and the LHC. Our calculations will help to calibrate and monitor the luminosity and to estimate of backgrounds of the hadron-hadron interactions more reliably. Besides the total cross section, we study the distributions in the transverse momentum and the rapidity (y) of the Z boson, appropriate for Tevatron and LHC experimental conditions. Investigating the relative sizes of the various types of corrections by means of the factor K = σtot/σBorn, we find that the QCD corrections of order α Sα are largest in general and that the electroweak corrections of order αSα 2 play an important role at large values of qT , while the QED corrections at the same order αSα 2 are small, of order 2% or below. We also compare our results with the existing literature. We correct a few misprints in the original calculation of the QCD corrections, and find the published electroweak corrections to be incomplete. Our results for the QED corrections are new.