The top induced backgrounds to Higgs production in the WW -> llvv decay channel at NLO in QCD

We present the complete NLO contributions to the pp -> e^+ v_e mu^- vbar_m b bbar + X process in the four flavour scheme, i.e. with massive b quarks, and its contribution to the H -> WW -> llvv measurement in the 1-jet bin at the LHC. This background process includes top pair, single top and non-top quark-resonant contributions. The uncertainty at NLO from renormalisation and factorisation scale dependence is about +30% -20%. We show that the NLO corrections are relatively small, and that separating this background in top pair, Wt and b-quark associated llvv is a fair approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Extending the MINLO method

We consider improving POWHEG+MINLO simulations, so as to also render them NLO accurate in the description of observables receiving contributions from events with lower parton multiplicity than present in their underlying NLO calculation. On a conceptual level we follow the strategy of the so-called MINLO' programs. Whereas the existing MINLO' framework requires explicit analytic input from higher order resummation, here we derive an effective numerical approximation to these ingredients, by imposing unitarity. This offers a way of extending the MINLO' method to more complex processes, complementary to the known route which uses explicit computations of high-accuracy resummation inputs. Specifically, we have focused on Higgs-plus-two-jet production (HJJ) and related processes. We also consider how one can cover three units of multiplicity at NLO accuracy, i.e. we consider how the HJJ-MINLO simulation may yield NLO accuracy for inclusive H, HJ, and HJJ quantities. We perform a feasibility study assessing the potential of these ideas.Comment: 66 pages, 22 figures; v2 references added; v3=JHEP, improved readabilit

Automation of the Dipole Subtraction Method in MadGraph/MadEvent

We present the implementation of the dipole subtraction formalism for the real radiation contributions to any next-to-leading order QCD process in the MadGraph/MadEvent framework. Both massless and massive dipoles are considered. Starting from a specific (n+1)-particle process the package provides a Fortran code for all possible dipoles to all Born processes that constitute the subtraction term to the (n+1)-particle process. The output files are given in the usual "MadGraph StandAlone" style using helicity amplitudes.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Integrated dipoles with MadDipole in the MadGraph framework

Heading towards a full automation of next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections, one important ingredient is the analytical integration over the one-particle phase space of the unresolved particle that is necessary when adding the subtraction terms to the virtual corrections. We present the implementation of these integrated dipoles in the MadGraph framework. The result is a package that allows an automated calculation for the NLO real emission parts of an arbitrary process.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. Published version: few reference updates and a couple of minor corrections to the tex

A new way of reducing negative weights in MC@NLO

We introduce a new technique, that we dub Born spreading, aimed at reducing the number of negative-weight $\mathbb S$ events in the MC@NLO matching of NLO calculations with parton-shower simulations. We show that such a technique, based on a re-distribution of Born matrix elements in the radiative phase space, achieves a sizeable reduction of negative-weight events at little computational cost. The method does not induce any biases in physical distributions.Comment: 5 pages, 1 tabl

T-odd Asymmetry in W+jet Events at the LHC

W bosons produced at high transverse momentum in hadron collisions can have polarization along the direction perpendicular to the production plane, which is odd under na\ddot{\i}ve-T-reversal where both the three-momenta and angular momenta are reversed. Perturbative QCD predicts non-zero polarization at the one-loop level, which can be measured as parity-odd components in the angular distribution of charged leptons from the decay of W bosons. We perform a detector-level simulation with the generator MadGraph5_aMC@NLO, and demonstrate that the asymmetry can be observed at the 8 TeV LHC with 20 fb$^{-1}$ of data. If confirmed, it will be the first experimental measurement of the sign of the imaginary part of one-loop QCD amplitudes.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

NLO QCD corrections to five-jet production at LEP and the extraction of alpha_s(M_Z)

The highest exclusive jet multiplicity studied at LEP experiments is five. In this paper we compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to e+e- annihilation to five jets, essentially closing the (pure) perturbative QCD studies of exclusive jetty final states at LEP. We compare fixed-order perturbative results with ALEPH data. We estimate hadronization corrections to five-jet observables using the event generator SHERPA, which employs the CKKW procedure to combine a reliable perturbative treatment of high-multiplicity jet final states with parton showers. We show that a competitive value of the strong coupling constant alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1156 +0.0041 -0.0034 can be extracted from the distribution of the five-jet resolution parameter and the five-jet rate at LEP1 and LEP2.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures. Published version (3 references addded, 1 sentence rephrased

Automatic spin-entangled decays of heavy resonances in Monte Carlo simulations

We present a general method that allows one to decay narrow resonances in Les Houches Monte Carlo events in an efficient and accurate way. The procedure preserves both spin correlation and finite width effects to a very good accuracy, and is therefore particularly suited for the decay of resonances in production events generated at next-to-leading-order accuracy. The method is implemented as a generic tool in the MadGraph framework, giving access to a very large set of possible applications. We illustrate the validity of the method and the code by applying it to the case of single top and top quark pair production, and show its capabilities on the case of top quark pair production in association with a Higgs boson.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, published versio