Parton-shower effects on Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion in association with three jets

We present an implementation of Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion in association with three jets at hadron colliders in the POWHEG-BOX, a framework for the matching of NLO-QCD calculations with parton-shower programs. Our work provides the means to precisely describe the properties of extra jet activity in vector-boson fusion reactions that are used for the suppression of QCD backgrounds by central jet veto techniques. For a representative setup at the CERN LHC we verify that uncertainties related to parton-shower effects are mild for distributions related to the third jet, in contrast to what has been observed in calculations based on vector-boson fusion induced Higgs production in association with two jets.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to W+Z and W-Z production via vector-boson fusion

We present the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to electroweak p p -> e+ nu_e mu+ mu- jj and p p -> e- nubar_e mu+ mu- jj production at the CERN LHC in the form of a fully flexible parton-level Monte Carlo program. The QCD corrections to the total cross sections are modest, changing the leading-order results by less than 10%. At the Born level, the shape of kinematic distributions can depend significantly on the choice of factorization scale. This theoretical uncertainty is strongly reduced by the inclusion of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; new figure and comments added; version published by PR

Physics Opportunities for Vector-Boson Scattering at a Future 100 TeV Hadron Collider

Vector-boson scattering (VBS) processes provide particularly promising means for probing the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and to search for new physics in the weak sector. In the environment of a future proton-proton collider operating at a center-of-mass energy of 100 TeV, unprecedented opportunities arise for the investigation of this important class of reactions. We highlight the prominent features of VBS processes in this energy regime and discuss how the VBS signal can be isolated in the presence of a priori large QCD backgrounds. We find excellent opportunities for the analysis of VBS reactions in a kinematic range that is inaccessible to present colliders.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures; matches version published by Phys. Rev.

Improving the Tanzanian-Mombasa cross-border tomato product chain: a study of Mombasa tomato market : draft report

The study of Mombasa tomato market is part of the project “Development of Commercial Field Vegetable Production, Distribution and Marketing for the East African Market”. The project is implementing a pilot activity on improving crossborder tomato chains from Ngarenanyuki, Tanzania, to Mombasa, Kenya. The overall objective of the study was to assess the requirements, institutional setting and current supply issues of the Mombasa tomato market and to describe the supply chain logistics and characteristics

Flavor decomposition of the elastic nucleon electromagnetic form factors

The u- and d-quark contributions to the elastic nucleon electromagnetic form factors have been determined using experimental data on GEn, GMn, GpE, and GpM. Such a flavor separation of the form factors became possible up to 3.4 GeV2 with recent data on GEn from Hall A at JLab. At a negative four-momentum transfer squared Q2 above 1 GeV2, for both the u- and d-quark components, the ratio of the Pauli form factor to the Dirac form factor, F2/F1, was found to be almost constant, and for each of F2 and F1 individually, the d-quark portions of both form factors drop continuously with increasing Q2.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure