Impact of QED corrections to Higgs decay into four leptons at the LHC

At the LHC a precise measurement of the Higgs boson mass (if discovered), at the level of 0.1-1%, will be possible through the channel g g --> H --> 4l for a wide range of Higgs mass values. To match such an accuracy, the systematic effects induced by QED corrections need to be investigated. In the present study the calculation of O(alpha) and higher order QED corrections is illustrated as well as their impact on the Higgs mass determination, once realistic event selection criteria for charged leptons and photons are considered.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Presented at HEP2005 July 21st-27th, 2005, Lisboa, Portugal and at RADCOR 2005, Shonan Village, October 2nd-7th, 2005, Japa

Photon pair production at flavour factories with per mille accuracy

We present a high-precision QED calculation, with 0.1% theoretical accuracy, of two photon production in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation, as required by more and more accurate luminosity monitoring at flavour factories. The accuracy of the approach, which is based on the matching of exact next-to-leading order corrections with a QED Parton Shower algorithm, is demonstrated through a detailed analysis of the impact of the various sources of radiative corrections to the experimentally relevant observables. The calculation is implemented in the latest version of the event generator BabaYaga, available for precision simulations of photon pair production at $e^+ e^-$ colliders of moderately high energies.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Novel 3D PZT thin film structure for micromechanics

In this work, fabrication and properties of 3-dimensional structures coated with piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) thin films have been studied in order to improve the piezoelectric coupling into the third dimension. Calotte layers have been chosen as demonstration devices. The base diameters range from 40 to 120μm, the height varies between 10 to 40μm. A dynamic, in-situ co-sputtering process allowing for in-situ growth was applied. Micromoulds were formed by wet etching in silicon. The etchant was a HNA solution (HF, HNO3, CH3COOH) on a silicon dioxide mask. Calottes were obtained with the desired geometry and smooth surface state after few minutes etching time, and the use of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). After deposition of the PZT membrane, deep silicon dry etching was then used to liberate the calotte layer. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of the calotte capacitors amounted to 830 and 5%, respectively (10kHz). The fundamental resonance frequencies varied between 2.5 and 16.5MHz, and were found to be inversely proportional to the base area of the calotte, the proportionality factor being 0.08Hz m

Full one-loop electroweak corrections to e+e- to 3 jets at linear colliders

We describe the impact of the full one-loop electroweak terms of O(alpha_s alpha_EM^3) entering the electron-positron into three-jet cross-section from sqrt(s)=M_Z to TeV scale energies. We include both factorisable and non-factorisable virtual corrections and photon bremsstrahlung. Their importance for the measurement of alpha_S from jet rates and shape variables is explained qualitatively and illustrated quantitatively, also in presence of b-tagging.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the workshop "LC09 -- e+e- Physics at the TeV scale and the Dark Matter Connection", 21-24 September 2009, Perugia (Italy). Minor corrections, references added

Matrix elements and Parton Shower in the event generator BABAYAGA

A new version of the event generator BABAYAGA is presented, which is based on an original matching of the Parton Shower approach with the complete exact O(alpha) matrix element for the inclusion of the QED radiative corrections to the Bhabha process at flavour factories. The theoretical accuracy of the improved generator is conservatively estimated to be 0.2%, by comparison with independent calculations. The generator is a useful tool for precise luminosity determination at flavour factories, for center of mass energies below 10 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the International Workshop e+ e- Collisions from phi to psi, Novosibirsk (Russia), 27 Feb - 2 Mar 200

Precision electroweak calculation of the production of a high transverse-momentum lepton pair at hadron colliders

We present a detailed study of the production of a high transverse-momentum lepton pair at hadron colliders, which includes the exact O(alpha) electroweak corrections properly matched with leading logarithmic effects due to multiple photon emission, as required by the experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC. Numerical results for the relevant observables of single Z-boson production at hadron colliders are presented. The impact of the radiative corrections is discussed in detail. The presence in the proton of a photon density is considered and the effects of the photon-induced partonic subprocesses are analyzed. The calculation has been implemented in the new version of the event generator HORACE, which is available for precision simulations of the neutral and charged current Drell-Yan processes.Comment: October 2007, 22p