Single-top-quark production in the t-channel at NNLO
John Campbell, Tobias Neumann, Zack Sullivan
Abstract
A bstract We present a calculation of t -channel single-top-quark production and decay in the five-flavor scheme at NNLO. Our results resolve a disagreement between two previous calculations of this process that found a difference in the inclusive cross section at the level of the NNLO coefficient itself. We compare in detail with the previous calculations at the inclusive, differential and fiducial level including b -quark tagging at a fixed scale μ = m t . In addition, we advocate the use of double deep inelastic scattering (DDIS) scales ( μ 2 = Q 2 for the light-quark line and μ 2 = Q 2 + $$ {m}_t^2 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> for the heavy-quark line) that maximize perturbative stability and allow for robust scale uncertainties. All NNLO and NLO⊗NLO contributions for production and decay are included in the on-shell and vertex-function approximation. We present fiducial and differential results for a variety of observables used in Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model analyses, and find an important difference between the NLO and NNLO predictions of exclusive t + n -jet cross sections. Overall we find that NNLO corrections are crucial for a precise identification of the t -channel process.