NLO QCD and electroweak corrections to W + γ production with leptonic W-boson decays

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics 2015-04, Vol.2015 (4), Article 18
• Main Authors: Denner, Ansgar, Dittmaier, Stefan, Hecht, Markus, Pasold, Christian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Elementary Particles; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; String Theory
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2015)018

A bstract We present a calculation of the next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections to W+γ production, including the leptonic decay of the W boson and taking into account all off-shell effects of the W boson, where the finite width of the W boson is implemented using the complex-mass scheme. Corrections induced by incoming photons are fully included and find particular emphasis in the discussion of phenomenological predictions for the LHC. The corresponding next-to-leading-order QCD corrections are reproduced as well. In order to separate hard photons from jets, a quark-to-photon fragmentation function á la Glover and Morgan is employed. Our results are implemented into Monte Carlo programs allowing for the evaluation of arbitrary differential cross sections. We present integrated cross sections for the LHC at 7 TeV, 8 TeV, and 14 TeV as well as differential distributions at 14 TeV for bare muons and dressed leptons. Finally, we discuss the impact of anomalous W W γ couplings.