Abstract
We present a calculation of t-channel single-top-quark production and decay in the five-flavor scheme at NNLO. Our results resolve a disagreement between two previous calculations of this process that found a difference in the inclusive cross section at the level of the NNLO coefficient itself. We compare in detail with the previous calculations at the inclusive, differential and fiducial level including b-quark tagging at a fixed scale μ = mt. In addition, we advocate the use of double deep inelastic scattering (DDIS) scales (μ2 = Q2 for the light-quark line and μ2 = Q2 + \( {m}_t^2 \) for the heavy-quark line) that maximize perturbative stability and allow for robust scale uncertainties. All NNLO and NLO⊗NLO contributions for production and decay are included in the on-shell and vertex-function approximation. We present fiducial and differential results for a variety of observables used in Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model analyses, and find an important difference between the NLO and NNLO predictions of exclusive t + n-jet cross sections. Overall we find that NNLO corrections are crucial for a precise identification of the t-channel process.
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Campbell, J., Neumann, T. & Sullivan, Z. Single-top-quark production in the t-channel at NNLO. J. High Energ. Phys. 2021, 40 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2021)040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2021)040