W+W−W^+W^- production at hadron colliders in NNLO QCD

Charged gauge boson pair production at the Large Hadron Collider allows detailed probes of the fundamental structure of electroweak interactions. We present precise theoretical predictions for on-shell $W^+W^-$ production that include, for the first time, QCD effects up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory. As compared to next-to-leading order, the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section is enhanced by 9% at 7 TeV and 12% at 14 TeV. The residual perturbative uncertainty is at the 3% level. The severe contamination of the $W^+W^-$ cross section due to top-quark resonances is discussed in detail. Comparing different definitions of top-free $W^+W^-$ production in the four and five flavour number schemes, we demonstrate that top-quark resonances can be separated from the inclusive $W^+W^-$ cross section without significant loss of theoretical precision.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Prediction of minimum temperatures in an alpine region by linear and non-linear post-processing of meteorological models

International audienceModel Output Statistics (MOS) refers to a method of post-processing the direct outputs of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models in order to reduce the biases introduced by a coarse horizontal resolution. This technique is especially useful in orographically complex regions, where large differences can be found between the NWP elevation model and the true orography. This study carries out a comparison of linear and non-linear MOS methods, aimed at the prediction of minimum temperatures in a fruit-growing region of the Italian Alps, based on the output of two different NWPs (ECMWF T511?L60 and LAMI-3). Temperature, of course, is a particularly important NWP output; among other roles it drives the local frost forecast, which is of great interest to agriculture. The mechanisms of cold air drainage, a distinctive aspect of mountain environments, are often unsatisfactorily captured by global circulation models. The simplest post-processing technique applied in this work was a correction for the mean bias, assessed at individual model grid points. We also implemented a multivariate linear regression on the output at the grid points surrounding the target area, and two non-linear models based on machine learning techniques: Neural Networks and Random Forest. We compare the performance of all these techniques on four different NWP data sets. Downscaling the temperatures clearly improved the temperature forecasts with respect to the raw NWP output, and also with respect to the basic mean bias correction. Multivariate methods generally yielded better results, but the advantage of using non-linear algorithms was small if not negligible. RF, the best performing method, was implemented on ECMWF prognostic output at 06:00 UTC over the 9 grid points surrounding the target area. Mean absolute errors in the prediction of 2 m temperature at 06:00 UTC were approximately 1.2°C, close to the natural variability inside the area itself

Subtraction at NNLO

We propose a framework for the implementation of a subtraction formalism at NNLO in QCD, based on an observable- and process-independent cancellation of infrared singularities. As a first simple application, we present the calculation of the contribution to the e+e- dijet cross section proportional to C_F T_RComment: 42 pages Latex; 7 figures included. Modifications to the text, and references added; the results are unchange

New vector bosons in the electroweak sector: a renormalizable model with decoupling

A linear realization of a model of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking describing additional heavy vector bosons is proposed. The model is a SU(2)_L x U(1) x SU(2)_L' x SU(2)_R' gauge theory, breaking at some high scale u to SU(2)_weak x U(1)_Y and breaking again in the standard way at the electroweak scale v to U(1)_(em). The model is renormalizable and reproduces the Standard Model in the limit u\to infinity. This decoupling property is shown to hold also at the level of radiative corrections by computing, in particular, the epsilon parameters.Comment: 39 pages, 16 Figures, Late

BSM W W production with a jet veto

We consider the impact on W W production of the unique dimension-six operator coupling gluons to the Higgs field. In order to study this process, we have to appropriately model the effect of a veto on additional jets. This requires the resummation of large logarithms of the ratio of the maximum jet transverse momentum and the invariant mass of the W boson pair. We have performed such resummation at the appropriate accuracy for the Standard Model (SM) background and for a signal beyond the SM (BSM), and devised a simple method to interface jet-veto resummations with fixed-order event generators. This resulted in the fast numerical code MCFM-RE, the Resummation Edition of the fixed-order code MCFM. We compared our resummed predictions with parton-shower event generators and assessed the size of effects, such as limited detector acceptances, hadronisation and the underlying event, that were not included in our resummation. We have then used the code to compare the sensitivity of W W and Z Z production at the HL-LHC to the considered higher-dimension operator. We have found that W W can provide complementary sensitivity with respect to Z Z, provided one is able to control theory uncertainties at the percent-level. Our method is general and can be applied to the production of any colour singlet, both within and beyond the SM

An eleven-year history of Vanishing White Matter Disease in an adult patient with no cognitive decline and EIF2B5 mutations. A case report

Vanishing White Matter Disease (VWMD) is a rare autosomal recessive leukoencephalopathy. The classical presentation is characterized by a severe cerebellar ataxia, spasticity, neurological deterioration with a chronic progressive course and episodes of acute neurological deterioration after stress conditions. We report a 52-year-old man with VWMD and atypical features who manifested two major events of transient aphasia eleven years apart with complete recovery in 48 hours. No cognitive decline was present. Brain MRI revealed typical aspects of VWMD including diffuse leukoencephalopathy with relative sparing of U-fibers. We identified the presence of c.592G>A (p.Glu198Lys) and c.1360 C>T (p.Pro454Ser) mutations in EIF2B5

Gluon-induced W-boson pair production at the LHC

Pair production of W bosons constitutes an important background to Higgs boson and new physics searches at the Large Hadron Collider LHC. We have calculated the loop-induced gluon-fusion process gg -> W*W* -> leptons, including intermediate light and heavy quarks and allowing for arbitrary invariant masses of the W bosons. While formally of next-to-next-to-leading order, the gg -> W*W* -> leptons process is enhanced by the large gluon flux at the LHC and by experimental Higgs search cuts, and increases the next-to-leading order WW background estimate for Higgs searches by about 30%. We have extended our previous calculation to include the contribution from the intermediate top-bottom massive quark loop and the Higgs signal process. We provide updated results for cross sections and differential distributions and study the interference between the different gluon scattering contributions. We describe important analytical and numerical aspects of our calculation and present the public GG2WW event generator.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Older People Living in Nursing Homes: An Oral Health Screening Survey in Florence, Italy

The oral health state plays an important role in the concept of ‘elderly frailty’, since institutionalized older people are prone to suffering from bad oral conditions. The aim of this study is to assess the state of oral health in the older residents of nursing homes and to measure its potential association with the cognitive state, the degree of functional autonomy, and the malnutrition risk. Methods: We enrolled 176 subjects from 292 residents in five nursing homes in Florence. For each subject, we performed the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, the Pfeiffer test, the Minimum Data Set—Long Form, a dental examination, and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index questionnaire. The results show that the oral condition was poor in 43.8% of cases, medium in 38.1%, and good in 18.2%. A worse oral health state was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with a worse cognitive state and with a higher dependency in daily living activities. The malnutrition score among the older people was unrelated to the oral health condition (p = 0.128). It can be concluded that the oral health condition in older institutionalized subjects is an open challenge for the public healthcare system, since the maintenance of adequate good oral health is an essential element of good physical as well as cognitive and psychological health

Heavy-quark mass effects in Higgs boson production at the LHC

We study the impact of heavy-quark masses in Higgs boson production through gluon fusion at the LHC. We extend previous computations of the fully differential cross section and of the transverse momentum spectrum of the Higgs boson by taking into account the finite top- and bottom-quark masses up to O(alpha_S^3). We also discuss the issues arising when the heavy-quark mass is much smaller than the Higgs mass. Our results are implemented in updated versions of the HNNLO and HRes numerical programs.Comment: Minor modifications, results unchanged. Discussion on uncertainties added. Version published on JHE

The infrared structure of e+ e- --> 3 jets at NNLO reloaded

This paper gives detailed information on the structure of the infrared singularities for the process e+ e- --> 3 jets at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory. Particular emphasis is put on singularities associated to soft gluons. The knowledge of the singularity structure allows the construction of appropriate subtraction terms, which in turn can be implemented into a numerical Monte Carlo program.Comment: 59 pages, additional comments added, version to be publishe