119300543
Complete electroweak corrections to Higgs production in a Standard Model with four generations at the LHC
Abstract Complete electroweak two-loop corrections to the process gg → H are presented and discussed in a Standard Model with a fourth generation of heavy fermions. The latter is studied at the LHC to put exclusion limits on a fourth generation of heavy fermions. Therefore also a precise knowledge of the electroweak (EW) next-to-leading-order (NLO) corrections is important. The corrections due to the fourth generation are positive and large for a light Higgs boson, positive but relatively small around the t ¯ – t threshold and start to become negative for a Higgs boson mass around M H = 450 GeV . Increasing further the value of the Higgs boson mass, the EW NLO effects tend to become huge and negative, O ( − 100 % ) , around the heavy-fermion threshold, assumed at 1.2 TeV , so that gg-fusion becomes non-perturbative. Above that threshold they start to grow again and become positive around M H = 1.75 TeV . The behavior at even larger values of M H shows a positive enhancement, O ( + 100 % ) at M H = 3 TeV .
12101220
QCD corrections to single top quark production in electron-photon interactions
Abstract.Single top quark production in electron-photon interactions provides a clean environment for the measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element Vtb. Aiming at an experimental precision at the percent level the knowledge of radiative corrections is important. In this paper we present results for the radiative corrections in quantum chromodynamics.
120745369
Precise quark masses from R(s)
We discuss the extraction of the charm- and bottom-quark mass from the experimentally measured R -ratio in combination with higher order QCD corrections to moments of the vacuum polarization function. The results for the MS ¯ -masses are m c ( 3 GeV ) = 0.986 ( 13 ) GeV and m b ( 10 GeV ) = 3.609 ( 25 ) GeV .
116139290
Improving the precision of light quark mass determinations
We discuss the concepts and the framework of the renormalization procedure in regularization-invariant momentum subtraction schemes. These schemes are used in the context of lattice simulations for the determination of physical quantities like light quark masses. We focus on the renormalization procedure with a symmetric subtraction point of a quark mass and discuss its conversion from the RI/SMOM scheme to the MSbar scheme. A symmetric subtraction point allows for a lattice calculation with a reduced contamination from infrared effects. The perturbative series for the resulting matching factor at next-to-leading order is better behaved for the symmetric momentum configuration than for the exceptional one which can decrease the uncertainty in light quark mass determinations.
427206
Four-loop moments of the heavy quark vacuum polarization function in perturbative QCD
New results at four-loop order in perturbative QCD for the first two Taylor coefficients of the heavy quark vacuum polarization function are presented. They can be used to perform a precise determination of the charm- and bottom-quark mass. Implications for the value of the quark masses are briefly discussed.
15203131
Precise charm- and bottom-quark masses: Theoretical and experimental uncertainties
We consider recent theoretical and experimental improvements in determining charm- and bottom-quark masses. We present a new, improved evaluation of the contribution of the gluon condensate 〈αsG2/π〉 to the charm mass determination and a detailed study of potential uncertainties in the continuum cross section for $b\bar b$ production, together with a study of the parametric uncertainty from the αs-dependence of our results. The final results, mc(3 GeV) = 986(13) MeV and mb(mb) = 4163(16) MeV, together with the closely related lattice determination mc(3 GeV) = 986(6) MeV, currently represent the most precise determinations of these two fundamental standard-model parameters. We critically analyze the theoretical and experimental uncertainties.
54021017
Implications for compact stars of a soft nuclear equation of state from heavy-ion data
We study the implications on compact star properties of a soft nuclear equation of state determined from kaon production at subthreshold energies in heavy-ion collisions. On one hand, we apply these results to study radii and moments of inertia of light neutron stars. Heavy-ion data provides constraints on nuclear matter at densities relevant for those stars and, in particular, to the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter. On the other hand, we derive a limit for the highest allowed neutron star mass of three solar masses. For that purpose, we use the information on the nucleon potential obtained from the analysis of the heavy-ion data combined with causality on the nuclear equation of state.
17217990
First measurement of antikaon phase-space distributions in nucleus–nucleus collisions at subthreshold beam energies
Abstract Differential production cross sections of K − and K + mesons have been measured as function of the polar emission angle in Ni + Ni collisions at a beam energy of 1.93  A GeV. In near-central collisions, the spectral shapes and the widths of the rapidity distributions of K − and K + mesons are in agreement with the assumption of isotropic emission. In non-central collisions, the K − and K + rapidity distributions are broader than expected for a single thermal source. In this case, the polar angle distributions are strongly forward–backward peaked and the nonisotropic contribution to the total yield is about one third both for K + and K − mesons. The K − /K + ratio is found to be about 0.03 independent of the centrality of the reaction. This value is significantly larger than predicted by microscopic transport calculations if in-medium modifications of K mesons are neglected.
119152945
Soft nuclear equation-of-state from heavy-ion data and implications for compact stars
Measurements of kaon production at subthreshold energies in heavy-ion collisions point to a soft nuclear equation-of-state for densities up to 2-3 times nuclear matter saturation density. We apply these results to study the implications on compact star properties, especially in the context of the recent measurement of the two solar mass pulsar PSR J1614-2230. The implications are two-fold: Firstly, the heavy-ion results constrain nuclear matter at densities relevant to light neutron stars. Hence, a radius measurement could provide information about the density dependence of the symmetry energy which is a crucial quantity in nuclear physics. Secondly, the information on the nucleon potential obtained from the analysis of the heavy-ion data can be combined with restrictions from causality on the nuclear equation-of-state. From this we can derive a limit for the highest allowed compact star mass of three solar masses.
93340987
PRODUCTION OF ANTIKAONS AND KAONS IN PROTON–NUCLEUS COLLISIONS NEAR THRESHOLD
20377841
First evidence for different freeze-out conditions for kaons and antikaons observed in heavy-ion collisions.
Differential production cross sections of K- and K+ mesons have been measured in Ni+Ni and Au+Au collisions at a beam energy of 1.5 A GeV. The K(-)/K(+) ratio is found to be nearly constant as a function of the collision centrality and system size. The spectral slopes and the polar emission pattern differ for K- and K+ mesons. These observations indicate that K+ mesons decouple earlier from the fireball than K- mesons.