Professor Claire Gwenlan

Abstract:

A combination is presented of the inclusive deep inelastic cross sections measured by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations in neutral and charged current unpolarised e±p scattering at HERA during the period 1994-2000. The data span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, Q2, and in Bjorken x. The combination method used takes the correlations of systematic uncertainties into account, resulting in an improved accuracy. The combined data are the sole input in a NLO QCD analysis which determines a new set of parton distributions, HERAPDF1.0, with small experimental uncertainties. This set includes an estimate of the model and parametrisation uncertainties of the fit result.

Abstract:

A method to facilitate the consistent inclusion of cross-section measurements based on complex final-states from HERA, TEVATRON and the LHC in proton parton density function (PDF) fits has been developed. This can be used to increase the sensitivity of LHC data to deviations from Standard Model predictions. The method stores perturbative coefficients of NLO QCD calculations of final-state observables measured in hadron colliders in look-up tables. This allows the a posteriori inclusion of parton density functions (PDFs), and of the strong coupling, as well as the a posteriori variation of the renormalisation and factorisation scales in cross-section calculations. The main novelties in comparison to original work on the subject are the use of higher-order interpolation of Lagrangian form, which substantially improves the trade-off between accuracy and memory use, and a CPU and computer memory optimised way to construct and store the look-up table using modern software tools. It is demonstrated that a sufficient accuracy on the cross-section calculation can be achieved with reasonably small look-up table size by using the examples of jet production and electro-weak boson (Z, W) production in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV at the LHC. The use of this technique in PDF fitting is demonstrated in a PDF-fit to HERA data and simulated LHC jet cross-sections as well as in a study of the jet cross-section uncertainties at various centre-of-mass energies. © Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica 2010.

Abstract:

Differential cross sections for dijet photoproduction and this process in association with a leading neutron, e ++p→e ++jet+jet+X(+n), have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 40 pb -1. The fraction of dijet events with a leading neutron was studied as a function of different jet and event variables. Single- and double-differential cross sections are presented as a function of the longitudinal fraction of the proton momentum carried by the leading neutron, x L, and of its transverse momentum squared, pT2. The dijet data are compared to inclusive DIS and photoproduction results; they are all consistent with a simple pion-exchange model. The neutron yield as a function of x L was found to depend only on the fraction of the proton beam energy going into the forward region, independent of the hard process. No firm conclusion can be drawn on the presence of rescattering effects. © 2009 Elsevier B.V.