0000000000643857
AUTHOR
I. Schienbein
Strange quark parton distribution functions and implications for Drell-Yan boson production at the LHC
Global analyses of parton distribution functions (PDFs) have provided incisive constraints on the up and down quark components of the proton, but constraining the other flavor degrees of freedom is more challenging. Higher-order theory predictions and new data sets have contributed to recent improvements. Despite these efforts, the strange quark parton distribution function has a sizable uncertainty, particularly in the small $x$ region. We examine the constraints from experiment and theory, and investigate the impact of this uncertainty on LHC observables. In particular, we study $W/Z$ production to see how the $s$ quark uncertainty propagates to these observables, and examine the extent t…
Finite-Mass Effects on Inclusive B-Meson Hadroproduction
We calculate the transverse-momentum (p_T) distribution for the inclusive hadroproduction of B mesons at intermediate values of p_T at next-to-leading order (NLO) in a dedicated finite-mass scheme using realistic non-perturbative fragmentation functions that are obtained through a global fit to e^+e^- data from CERN LEP1 and SLAC SLC exploiting their universality and scaling violations. We find that finite-mass effects moderately enhance the cross section, by about 20% at p_T = 2 m_b, and rapidly fade out with increasing value of p_T, so that the zero-mass prediction is reached. We also perform comparisons with recent ppbar data taken by the CDF Collaboration in run II at the Fermilab Tevat…
Global analysis of nuclear PDFs with LHC vector boson, single inclusive hadron and heavy quark data
We discuss the two most recent global analyses of nuclear parton distribution functions within the nCTEQ approach. LHC data on W/Z-boson, single-inclusive hadron and heavy quark/quarkonium production are shown to not only significantly reduce the gluon uncertainty down to x≥10−5, but to also influence the strange quark density. The latter is further constrained by neutrino deep-inelastic scattering and charm dimuon production data, whose consistency with neutral-current experiments is also re-evaluated. peerReviewed
Heavy flavour production at the LHC: Theoretical Aspects
CERN-DESY workshop on "HERA and the LHC" DESY-PROC-2009-02; ISBN 978-3-935702-32-4; ISSN 1435-8077; International audience; A proper inclusion of heavy quark mass effects in Parton Distribution Function fits has proved crucial. We present a review these effects in DIS and their impact on global analyses and lay out all elements of a properly defined general mass variable flavor number scheme (GM VFNS) that are shared by all modern formulations of the problem. We also report about progress in a number of theoretical problems related to exclusive measurements of heavy flavors. These topics include fragmentation functions for charmed mesons including finite mass effects, fragmentation function…
Reconciling open charm production at the Fermilab Tevatron with QCD
We study the inclusive hadrodroduction of D^0, D^+, D^{*+}, and D_s^+ mesons at next-to-leading order in the parton model of quantum chromodynamics endowed with universal non-perturbative fragmentation functions (FFs) fitted to e^+e^- annihilation data from CERN LEP1. Working in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme, we resum the large logarithms through the evolution of the FFs and, at the same time, retain the full dependence on the charm-quark mass without additional theoretical assumptions. In this way, the cross section distributions in transverse momentum recently measured by the CDF Collaboration in run II at the Fermilab Tevatron are described within errors.
$\Lambda_c^{\pm}$ production in pp collisions with a new fragmentation function
Physical review / D D 101(11), 114021 (2020). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.114021
Open charm hadroproduction and the charm content of the proton
We advocate charmed-hadron inclusive hadroproduction as a laboratory to probe intrinsic charm (IC) inside the colliding hadrons. Working at next-to-leading order in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme endowed with non-perturbative fragmentation functions recently extracted from a global fit to e^+e^- annihilation data from KEKB, CESR, and LEP1, we first assess the sensitivity of Tevatron data of D^0, D^+, and D^{*+} inclusive production to the IC parameterizations provided by Pumplin et al. We then argue that similar data from pp collisions at RHIC would have the potential to discriminate between different IC models provided they reach out to sufficiently large values of transver…
Λc± production in pp collisions with a new fragmentation function
We study inclusive ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{c}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$-baryon production in $pp$ collisions in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme and compare with data from the LHCb, ALICE, and CMS collaborations. We perform a new fit of the $c\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{c}^{+}$ fragmentation function combining ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ data from OPAL and Belle. The agreement with LHC data is slightly worse compared with a calculation using an older fragmentation function, and the tension between different determinations of ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{c}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ production cross sections from the LHC…