ZγZ\gamma production at NNLO including anomalous couplings

In this paper we present a next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD calculation of the processes $pp\rightarrow l^+l^-\gamma$ and $pp\rightarrow \nu\bar\nu\gamma$ that we have implemented in MCFM. Our calculation includes QCD corrections at NNLO both for the Standard Model (SM) and additionally in the presence of $Z\gamma\gamma$ and $ZZ\gamma$ anomalous couplings. We compare our implementation, obtained using the jettiness slicing approach, with a previous SM calculation and find broad agreement. Focusing on the sensitivity of our results to the slicing parameter, we show that using our setup we are able to compute NNLO cross sections with numerical uncertainties of about $0.1\%$, which is small compared to residual scale uncertainties of a few percent. We study potential improvements using two different jettiness definitions and the inclusion of power corrections. At $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV we present phenomenological results and consider $Z\gamma$ as a background to $H\to Z\gamma$ production. We find that, with typical cuts, the inclusion of NNLO corrections represents a small effect and loosens the extraction of limits on anomalous couplings by about $10\%$.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figure

FEDERAL RESEARCH: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results

Why GAO Did This Study --Research and development helps catalyze breakthroughs that improve the overall health and wellbeing of our society. Federal research and development expenditures averaged about $135 billion annually for fiscal years 2015 to 2017. According to OSTP, providing free public access to federally funded research results can improve both the impact and accountability of this important federal investment. In February 2013, OSTP directed federal agencies with more than$100 million in annual research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of federally funded research. GAO was asked to examine public access to federally funded research results. This report examines the extent of agencies’ (1) progress implementing plans to increase public access to federally funded research results and (2) coordination on public access plan implementation. GAO administered a questionnaire to 19 federal agencies selected based on annual research and development expenditure amounts, among other criteria; reviewed agency documents; and interviewed officials from 11 agencies, OSTP, and 21 stakeholder organizations. What GAO Recommends-- GAO is making 37 recommendations to 16 agencies to promote full and effective implementation of agency public access plans. For example, GAO recommends that OSTP and 5 agencies leading a public access interagency group take steps to fully implement selected leading collaboration practices. Of the 16 agencies, 15 agreed with GAO’s recommendations while 1 (OSTP) disagreed. GAO continues to believe the recommendation to OSTP is warranted. What GAO Found --The 19 agencies that GAO reviewed have made progress implementing their plans to increase public access to federally funded research results (publications and data), as called for in a 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum. However, some agencies have not fully implemented some aspects of their plans, in particular those related to data access and mechanisms to ensure researchers comply with public access requirements

FEDERAL RESEARCH: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results

Why GAO Did This Study --Research and development helps catalyze breakthroughs that improve the overall health and wellbeing of our society. Federal research and development expenditures averaged about $135 billion annually for fiscal years 2015 to 2017. According to OSTP, providing free public access to federally funded research results can improve both the impact and accountability of this important federal investment. In February 2013, OSTP directed federal agencies with more than$100 million in annual research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of federally funded research. GAO was asked to examine public access to federally funded research results. This report examines the extent of agencies’ (1) progress implementing plans to increase public access to federally funded research results and (2) coordination on public access plan implementation. GAO administered a questionnaire to 19 federal agencies selected based on annual research and development expenditure amounts, among other criteria; reviewed agency documents; and interviewed officials from 11 agencies, OSTP, and 21 stakeholder organizations. What GAO Recommends-- GAO is making 37 recommendations to 16 agencies to promote full and effective implementation of agency public access plans. For example, GAO recommends that OSTP and 5 agencies leading a public access interagency group take steps to fully implement selected leading collaboration practices. Of the 16 agencies, 15 agreed with GAO’s recommendations while 1 (OSTP) disagreed. GAO continues to believe the recommendation to OSTP is warranted. What GAO Found --The 19 agencies that GAO reviewed have made progress implementing their plans to increase public access to federally funded research results (publications and data), as called for in a 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum. However, some agencies have not fully implemented some aspects of their plans, in particular those related to data access and mechanisms to ensure researchers comply with public access requirements

Case study of satisfaction and completion of part time research students

2 page(s

Fiducial Drell-Yan production at the LHC improved by transverse-momentum resummation at N4^4LL+N3^3LO

Drell-Yan production is one of the precision cornerstones of the LHC, serving as calibration for measurements such as the $W$-boson mass. Its extreme precision at the level of 1% challenges theory predictions at the highest level. We present the first independent calculation of Drell-Yan production at order $\alpha_s^3$ in transverse-momentum ($q_T$) resummation improved perturbation theory. Our calculation reaches the state-of-the-art through inclusion of the recently published four loop rapidity anomalous dimension and three loop massive axial-vector contributions. We compare to the most recent data from CMS with fiducial and differential cross-section predictions and find excellent agreement at the percent level. Our resummed calculation including the matching to $Z$+jet production at NNLO is publicly available in the upcoming CuTe-MCFM 10.3 release and allows for theory-data comparison at an unprecedented level.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

It\u27s Like Deja Vu All Over Again : Williams v. Taylor, Wiggins v. Smith, Rompilla v. Beard and a (Partial) Return to the Guidelines Approach to the Effective Assistance of Counsel

Shoddy lawyering in capital cases is well documented. Many defendants facing the death penalty end up on death row not because of the heinousness of the crime they committed but rather because of the poor quality of trial counsel\u27s performance. Despite the acknowledgment of sometimes shockingly poor representation by academics, litigators and even judges, most post-conviction claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are unsuccessful. Why? The legal standard for adjudicating these allegations which the Court adopted in Strickland v. Washington, which requires a defendant to demonstrate that his lawyer\u27s performance was outside the wide range of competent assistance and that because of the substandard representation there is a reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different, has proven to be very difficult to satisfy. The Supreme Court\u27s recent decisions in Williams v. Taylor, Wiggins v. Smith, and Rompilla v. Beard, however, have provided some reason for optimism. While purporting to operate within the Strickland framework, the Court in all cases held that trial counsel\u27s representation was constitutionally inadequate. In doing so, the Court used the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice as norms for counsel\u27s performance in determining what constituted objectively reasonable representation. This article explores the jurisprudential road to Strickland, and from Strickland to Williams, Wiggins, and Rompilla. It then posits that, viewed through the lens of history, the Court\u27s use of the ABA guidelines is reminiscent of the standard Judge Bazelon articulated thirty years ago in Decoster v. United States which the Court rejected in Strickland. Consciously or subconsciously, the Court has now embraced a variation of the Bazelon\u27s Decoster approach when reviewing ineffective assistance of counsel claims. In all likelihood, this is because the Court concluded that Strickland\u27s vague standard was being misunderstood and misapplied by the state and federal courts in a manner that insulated grossly incompetent representation from judicial review. Thus, the Court used the ABA guidelines to put some flesh on the Strickland skeleton . Finally, the article explores the effect of the Court\u27s decisions on ineffective assistance of counsel claims reviewed by the state and federal courts, concluding that additional reforms are needed if the promise of effective assistance of counsel is to become a reality