Search

We discuss results from our global QCD analyses including nuclear data off deuterium from various measurements, as well as off $\htri$ and $\hetri$ targets from the \mara{} experiment. We simultaneously determine the parton distribution functions of the proton, the higher-twist terms, and the nucleon off-shell correction functions responsible for the modifications of the partonic structure in bound protons and neutrons. In particular, we study the neutron-proton asymmetry of the off-shell correction and its interplay with the treatment of the higher-twist terms. We observe that the data on the $\hetri/\htri, \hetri/\hdeu$, and $\htri/\hdeu$ cross section ratio are in good agreement with the predictions based on a single isoscalar off-shell function. We provide the corresponding predictions on the ratio $F_2^n/F_2^p$, on the $d$ and $u$ quark distributions in the proton and in the $\htri$ and $\hetri$ nuclei, as well as for future measurements of the EMC effect with parity-violating Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS)., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of DIS2024

We study the impact of state-of-the-art top-quark data collected at the Large Hadron Collider on parton distribution functions (PDFs). Following the ABMP methodology, the fit extracts simultaneously proton PDFs, the strong coupling $\alpha_s(M_Z)$ and heavy-quark masses at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) accuracy in QCD. It includes recent high-statistics data on absolute total inclusive cross sections for $t\bar{t}+X$, the sum of $(t + X)$ and $(\bar{t} + X)$ hadroproduction, and normalized inclusive data double-differential in the invariant mass and rapidity of the $t\bar{t}$ pair at $\sqrt{S}=13$ TeV. The gluon PDF at large $x$ and the top-quark mass value derived from these data are well compatible with the previous ABMP16 results, but with significantly smaller uncertainties, reduced by up to a factor of two. At NNLO in QCD we obtain for the strong coupling the value $\alpha_s^{(n_f=5)}(M_Z)= 0.1150 \pm 0.0009$ and for the top-quark mass in the ${\overline{\mbox{MS}}}$-scheme $m_t(m_t) = 160.6 \pm 0.6$ GeV, corresponding to $m_t^{\rm pole} = 170.2 \pm 0.7$ GeV in the on-shell scheme. The new fit, dubbed ABMPtt, is publicly released in grids in LHAPDF format., Comment: 33 pages, 22 figures, 4 tables

We compute differential distributions for Drell-Yan processes at the LHC and the Tevatron colliders at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD, including fiducial cuts on the decay leptons in the final state. The comparison of predictions obtained with four different codes shows excellent agreement, once linear power corrections from the fiducial cuts are included in those codes that rely on phase-space slicing subtraction schemes. For $Z$-boson production we perform a detailed study of the symmetric cuts on the transverse momenta of the decay leptons. Predictions at fixed order in perturbative QCD for those symmetric cuts, typically imposed in experiments, suffer from an instability. We show how this can be remedied by an all-order resummation of the fiducial transverse momentum spectrum, and we comment on the choice of cuts for future experimental analyses., Comment: 31 pages LaTeX, 13 figures

We investigate the impact of the recently released FNAL-E906 (SeaQuest) data on the ratio of proton-deuteron and proton-proton Drell-Yan production cross-sections on the sea quark PDFs. We find that they have constraining power on the light-quark sea isospin asymmetry $(\bar{d}-\bar{u})(x)$ and on the $(\bar{d}/\bar{u})(x)$ ratio at large longitudinal momentum fraction $x$ values, and that their constraints turn out to be compatible with those from Drell-Yan data in collider experiments (Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider) and in the old fixed-target experiment by the FNAL-E866 collaboration. We study the impact of nuclear corrections due to the deuteron target, finding them within 1% in most of the kinematic region covered by SeaQuest. We perform a new proton PDF fit, including SeaQuest data, using the ABMP16 methodology and we compare it to the ABMP16 baseline., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; talk at "The European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP2023)", 21-25 August 2023, Hamburg, Germany; submitted to PoS - Proceedings of Science

We discuss results from our global QCD analyses including nuclear data off deuterium from various measurements, as well as off $^3$H and $^3$He targets from the MARATHON experiment. We simultaneously determine the parton distribution functions of the proton, the higher-twist terms, and the nucleon off-shell correction functions responsible for the modifications of the partonic structure in bound protons and neutrons. In particular, we study the neutron-proton asymmetry of the off-shell correction and its interplay with the treatment of the higher-twist terms. We observe that the data on the $^3$He/$^3$H cross section ratio are consistent with a single isoscalar off-shell function. We also provide our predictions on the ratio $F_2^n/F_2^p$ and on the $d$ and $u$ quark distributions in the proton and in the $^3$H and $^3$He nuclei., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Presented at DIS2023: XXX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects, Michigan State University, USA, 27-31 March 2023

We evaluate the impact of recent SeaQuest (E906 experiment) data on dimuon production in proton-deuteron and proton-proton collisions on parton distribution functions (PDFs). We find these data in a good agreement with the QCD predictions based on PDFs fitted to the Tevatron and LHC data on forward production of $W$ and $Z$ bosons. As a basis for this study we use the ABMP16 PDF fits and show that they turn out to be compatible with the SeaQuest data, and that these data have constraining power, allowing to reduce the uncertainties on the isospin asymmetry of the light-sea-quark distribution at large longitudinal momentum fraction $x$. We discuss the nuclear corrections needed to describe the deuteron and show that they affect the theoretical description of the proton-deuteron Drell-Yan cross section at the level of $\mathcal{O}(0.5 - 1)$\%. We also comment on the compatibility of the SeaQuest results with other state-of-the-art PDF fits and show that these data are in clear disagreement with models proposing an SU(3)-flavor symmetric quark sea. Finally, we perform a comparison between the second Mellin moments of the light-quark PDFs and recent results from various lattice QCD computations, which demonstrates good compatibility, albeit limited by the uncertainties inherent in current lattice QCD simulations., Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, v2: report number updated, references added, typos corrected, discussion slightly revised and extended. Further small modifications still to come in a next version

We report the results of a new global QCD analysis including deep-inelastic scattering data off $^1$H, $^2$H, $^3$H, and $^3$He targets. Nuclear corrections are treated in terms of a nuclear convolution approach with off-shell bound nucleons. The off-shell (OS) corrections responsible for the modification of the structure functions (SFs) of bound nucleons are constrained in a global fit along with the proton parton distribution functions (PDFs) and the higher-twist (HT) terms. We investigate the proton-neutron difference for the OS correction and discuss our predictions for the SF ratio $F_2^n/F_2^p$ and the corresponding PDF ratio $d/u$ in the proton, as well as their correlations with the underlying treatment of the HT terms and of the OS corrections. In particular, we find that the recent MARATHON data are consistent with equal relative OS corrections for both the proton and the neutron., Comment: Published version, 6 pages, 4 figures

We report the results of a new global QCD analysis, which includes deep-inelastic $e/\mu$ scattering data off proton and deuterium, as well as Drell-Yan lepton pair production in proton-proton and proton-deuterium collisions and $W^\pm/Z$ boson production data from $pp$ and $p \bar p$ collisions at the LHC and Tevatron. Nuclear effects in the deuteron are treated in terms of a nuclear convolution approach with bound off-shell nucleons within a weak binding approximation. The off-shell correction is controlled by a universal function of the Bjorken variable $x$ describing the modification of parton distributions in bound nucleons, which is determined in our analysis along with the parton distribution functions of the proton. A number of systematic studies are performed to estimate the uncertainties arising from the use of various deuterium datasets, from the modeling of higher twist contributions to the structure functions, from the treatment of target mass corrections, as well as from the nuclear corrections in the deuteron. We obtain predictions for the ratios $F_2^n/F_2^p$, and $d/u$, focusing on the region of large $x$. We also compare our results with the ones obtained by other QCD analyses, as well as with the recent data from the MARATHON experiment., Comment: 30 pages, 14 figures, final version published in PRD

We present a detailed comparison of the fixed-order predictions computed by four publicly available computer codes for Drell-Yan processes at the LHC and Tevatron colliders. We point out that while there is agreement among the predictions at the next-to-leading order accuracy, the predictions at the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) differ, whose extent depends on the observable. The sizes of the differences in general are at least similar, sometimes larger than the sizes of the NNLO corrections themselves. We demonstrate that the neglected power corrections by the codes that use global slicing methods for the regularization of double real emissions can be the source of the differences. Depending on the fiducial cuts, those power corrections become linear, hence enhanced as compared to quadratic ones that are considered standard., Comment: 24 pages LaTeX, 17 figures, (journal version)

The Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) is designed to move the field of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) to the energy and intensity frontier of particle physics. Exploiting energy recovery technology, it collides a novel, intense electron beam with a proton or ion beam from the High Luminosity--Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). The accelerator and interaction region are designed for concurrent electron-proton and proton-proton operation. This report represents an update of the Conceptual Design Report (CDR) of the LHeC, published in 2012. It comprises new results on parton structure of the proton and heavier nuclei, QCD dynamics, electroweak and top-quark physics. It is shown how the LHeC will open a new chapter of nuclear particle physics in extending the accessible kinematic range in lepton-nucleus scattering by several orders of magnitude. Due to enhanced luminosity, large energy and the cleanliness of the hadronic final states, the LHeC has a strong Higgs physics programme and its own discovery potential for new physics. Building on the 2012 CDR, the report represents a detailed updated design of the energy recovery electron linac (ERL) including new lattice, magnet, superconducting radio frequency technology and further components. Challenges of energy recovery are described and the lower energy, high current, 3-turn ERL facility, PERLE at Orsay, is presented which uses the LHeC characteristics serving as a development facility for the design and operation of the LHeC. An updated detector design is presented corresponding to the acceptance, resolution and calibration goals which arise from the Higgs and parton density function physics programmes. The paper also presents novel results on the Future Circular Collider in electron-hadron mode, FCC-eh, which utilises the same ERL technology to further extend the reach of DIS to even higher centre-of-mass energies., Comment: 373 pages, many figures, to be published by J. Phys. G

We consider a detailed account on the construction of the heavy-quark parton distribution functions for charm and bottom, starting from $n_f=3$ light flavors in the fixed-flavor number (FFN) scheme and by using the standard decoupling relations for heavy quarks in QCD. We also account for two-mass effects. Furthermore, different implementations of the variable-flavor-number (VFN) scheme in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) are studied, with the particular focus on the resummation of large logarithms in $Q^2/m_h^2$, the ratio the virtuality of the exchanged gauge-boson $Q^2$ to the heavy-quark mass squared $m_h^2$. A little impact of resummation effects if found in the kinematic range of the existing data on the DIS charm-quark production so that they can be described very well within the FFN scheme. Finally, we study the theoretical uncertainties associated to the VFN scheme, which manifest predominantly at small $Q^2$., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures

We consider the impact of the resummation of large logarithms, which appear in the QCD evolution of the heavy-quark distributions, on the phenomenology of deep-inelastic heavy-quark production. The heavy-quark PDFs are derived using the fixed-order matching conditions as a boundary for the QCD evolution and the result obtained is compared to the distributions defined by the matching conditions at all scales. With such an approach, the effect of heavy-quark PDF evolution is found to be sizable at LO and dramatically reduces at NLO. The NNLO evolved distributions are not very different from the NLO ones at large scales, however, show substantial differences at low virtualities, i.e. where the additional large logarithms are numerically not important, while a mismatch between the NLO accuracy of the matching conditions and the NNLO accuracy in the evolution kernels causes a substantial excess in the heavy-quark distributions. This excess propagates into the variable flavor number (VFN) scheme predictions for the deep-inelastic structure functions and has to be compensated by a decrease in the small-$x$ gluon distribution determined from PDF fits based on the VFN scheme, which should be considered as a theoretical uncertainty in VFN PDF fits and reaches $\sim 30\%$ for the small-$x$ gluon distribution extracted from the data on deep-inelastic charm-quark production., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of XXVII International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS2018), 8-12 Apr, Torino (Italy)

We present an updated version of the ABMP16 nucleon PDFs, which is tuned by using recent precise data on $W$- and $Z/\gamma^*$-production at the LHC and the final HERA data on DIS $c$- and $b$-quark production and by imposing a stringent $Q^2$-cut on the inclusive DIS data in order to avoid the impact of higher twist terms at small $x$ at HERA. The new $W$- and $Z$-boson production data, in particular the updated version of the ATLAS data at the c.m.s. energy 7 TeV, are well accommodated into the present fit. The strange sea distribution obtained is consistent with the average of the up and down quark ones at small $x$. However, it is still suppressed with respect to the non-strange one by a factor of $\sim 0.5$ at moderate $x$. The small-$x$ gluon distribution is enhanced as compared to the previous ABMP16 fit, in line with updated data on the DIS $c$-quark production. Finally, a good description of the non-resonant $\gamma^*/Z$-production data, which are included into the ABM analysis for the first time, is achieved provided the photon-initiated lepton pair production is taken into account., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, proceedings of XXVII International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS2018), 8-12 Apr, Torino (Italy)

This document collects a written summary of all contributions presented at the workshop "$\alpha_s$(2019): Precision measurements of the strong coupling" held at ECT* (Trento) in Feb. 11--15, 2019. The workshop explored in depth the latest developments on the determination of the QCD coupling $\alpha_s$ from the key categories where high precision measurements are available: (i) lattice QCD, (ii) hadronic $\tau$ decays, (iii) deep-inelastic scattering and parton distribution functions, (iv) event shapes, jet cross sections, and other hadronic final-states in $e^+e^-$ collisions, (v) Z boson and W boson hadronic decays, and (vi) hadronic final states in p-p collisions. The status of the current theoretical and experimental uncertainties associated to each extraction method, and future perspectives were thoroughly reviewed. Novel $\alpha_s$ determination approaches were discussed, as well as the combination method used to obtain a world-average value of the QCD coupling at the Z mass pole., Comment: 154 pages, 125 figures. Workshop Proceedings, ECT*, Trento, 11--15 February 2019

We consider some trends, achievements and a series of remaining problems in the precision determination of parton distribution functions. For the description of the scaling violations of the deep-inelastic scattering data, forming the key ingredients to all PDF fits, a solid theoretical framework is of importance. It is provided by the fixed flavor number scheme in describing the heavy-quark contributions which is found in good agreement with the present experimental data in a very wide range of momentum transfers. In this framework also a consistent determination of the heavy-quark masses is possible at high precision. The emerging Drell-Yan data measured at hadron colliders start to play a crucial role in disentangling the quark species, particularly at small and large values of $x$. These new inputs demonstrate a good overall consistency with the earlier constraints on the PDFs coming from fixed-target experiments. No dramatic change is observed in the PDFs in case of a consistent account of the higher-order QCD corrections and when leaving enough flexibility in the PDF shape parameterization.}, Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, Contribution to the proceedings of Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory (LL2018), 29 April - 04 May 2018, St. Goar (Germany), few typos fixed

We check the stability of the ABMP16 fit with respect to modifications of quark PDFs suggested in the recent literature: the strange sea enhancement and a positive non-vanishing $d/u$ ratio at $x \to 1$. These possibilities are examined using test versions of the ABMP16 PDF fit which demonstrate no need of those changes. Furthermore, we localize peculiar features in other analyses which are responsible for a different behaviour of the PDFs obtained. The strange sea enhancement can be explained by a choice of the PDF shapes being not flexible enough and therefore leading to an over-suppressed $d$-quark distribution. This suppression has to be compensated by a corresponding rise by the $s$-quark distribution. As a result, an unusually large strange sea suppression factor is obtained. The non-vanishing value of $d/u\vert _{x=1}$ becomes consistent with zero in case the higher-order QCD corrections to the D{\O} $W$-asymmetry data, which drive its value, are taken into account. Furthermore, the related $e$-asymmetry sample prefers a slightly negative value of $d/u\vert _{x=1}$, although it is consistent with zero. These clarifications support confidence in the PDF shapes used in the ABMP16 analyses., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Contribution to the proceedings of XXVI International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects, 16-20 April 2018, Kobe (Japan)

We perform a global fit of parton distribution functions (PDFs) together with the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the quark masses $m_c$, $m_b$ and $m_t$ at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD. The analysis applies the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}\, $ renormalization scheme for $\alpha_s$ and all quark masses. It is performed in the fixed-flavor number scheme for $n_f=3, 4, 5$ and uses the same data as the previous fit of the ABMP16 PDF at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). The new NLO PDFs complement the set of ABMP16 PDFs and are to be used consistently with NLO QCD predictions for hard scattering processes. At NLO we obtain the value $\alpha_s^{(n_f=5)}(M_Z) = 0.1191 \pm 0.0011$ compared to $\alpha_s^{(n_f=5)}(M_Z) = 0.1147 \pm 0.0008$ at NNLO., Comment: 12 pages pdflatex, 4 figures, 5 tables, journal version

We consider determinations of the strange sea in the nucleon based on the QCD analyses of data collected at the LHC with focus on the recent high-statistics ATLAS measurement of the $W^\pm$- and $Z$-boson production. We study the effect of different functional forms for parameterization of the parton distribution functions and the combination of various data sets in the analysis. We compare to earlier strange sea determinations and discuss ways to improve them in the future., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures

We present a detailed study of nuclear corrections in the deuteron (D) by performing an analysis of data from deep inelastic scattering off proton and D, dilepton pair production in $pp$ and pD interactions, and W^+- and Z boson production in pp and p pbar collisions. In particular, we discuss the determination of the off-shell function describing the modification of the parton distribution functions in bound nucleons in the context of global QCD fits. Our results are consistent with the ones obtained independently from the study of deep inelastic scattering data off heavy nuclei with $A\geq4$, further confirming the universality of the off-shell function. We also study the sensitivity to the modeling of the deuteron wave function. As an important application we discuss the impact of nuclear corrections to the deuteron on the determination of the d quark distribution., Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures (typos fixed, text editing, appendix added)

We determine a new set of parton distribution functions (ABMP16), the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the quark masses $m_c$, $m_b$ and $m_t$ in a global fit to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD. The analysis uses the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ scheme for $\alpha_s$ and all quark masses and is performed in the fixed-flavor number scheme for $n_f=3, 4, 5$. Essential new elements of the fit are the combined data from HERA for inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS), data from the fixed-target experiments NOMAD and CHORUS for neutrino-induced DIS, and data from Tevatron and the LHC for the Drell-Yan process and the hadro-production of single-top and top-quark pairs. The theory predictions include new improved approximations at NNLO for the production of heavy quarks in DIS and for the hadro-production of single-top quarks. The description of higher twist effects relevant beyond the leading twist collinear factorization approximation is refined. At NNLO we obtain the value $\alpha_s^{(n_f=5)}(M_Z) = 0.1147 \pm 0.0008$., Comment: 70 pages pdflatex, 34 figures, 15 tables

We present a detailed study of nuclear corrections in the deuteron (D) from an analysis of data from charged-lepton deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) off proton and D, as well as from dimuon pair production in pp and pD collisions and $W^\pm$ and the $Z$ boson production at pp (p$\rm \bar p$) colliders. In particular, we discuss the determination of the off-shell function describing the modification of parton distributions (PDF) in bound nucleons in the context of global PDF fits. Our results are consistent with the ones obtained earlier from the study of the ratios of DIS structure functions $F_2^A/F_2^D$ in nuclei with $A\geq4$, confirming the universality of the off-shell function. We also discuss the sensitivity to various models of the deuteron wave function and the impact of nuclear corrections on the determination of the $d$ quark distribution., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the DIS 2016 conference

The strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the heavy-quark masses, $m_c$, $m_b$, $m_t$ are extracted simultaneosly with the parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the updated ABM12 fit including recent data from CERN-SPS, HERA, Tevatron, and the LHC. The values of \begin{eqnarray} \nonumber \alpha_s(M_Z)&=&0.1147\pm0.0008~({\rm exp.)},\\ \nonumber m_c(m_c)&=&1.252\pm 0.018~({\rm exp.})~{\rm GeV},\\ \nonumber m_b(m_b)&=&3.83\pm0.12~({\rm exp.})~{\rm GeV},\\ \nonumber m_t(m_t)&=&160.9\pm1.1~({\rm exp.})~{\rm GeV} \end{eqnarray} are obtained with the $\overline{MS}$ heavy-quark mass definition being employed throughout the analysis., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; preprint number corrected

We present an update of the ABM12 PDF analysis including improved constraints due to the final version of the inclusive DIS HERA data, the Tevatron and LHC data on the W- and Z-production and those on heavy-quark production in the electron- and neutrino-induced DIS at HERA and the fixed-target experiments NOMAD and CHORUS. We also check the impact of the Tevatron and LHC top-quark production data on the PDFs and the strong coupling constant. We obtain $\alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1145(9)$ and $0.1147(8)$ with and without the top-quark data included, respectively., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

We present a new determination of the top-quark mass $m_t$ based on the experimental data from the Tevatron and the LHC for single-top hadro-production. We use the inclusive cross sections of $s$- and $t$-channel top-quark production to extract $m_t$ and to minimize the dependence on the strong coupling constant and the gluon distribution in the proton compared to the hadro-production of top-quark pairs. As part of our analysis we compute the next-to-next-to-leading order approximation for the $s$-channel cross section in perturbative QCD based on the known soft-gluon corrections and implement it in the program Hathor for the numerical evaluation of the hadronic cross section. Results for the top-quark mass are reported in the $\bar{MS}$ and in the on-shell renormalization scheme., Comment: 11 pages latex, 3 figures, 4 tables; updated Tables 1, 3 and 4 and Figure 3 with finalized ATLAS and CMS measurements at 13 TeV; resulting changes in top-quark mass are small; additional references added

This report summarises the properties of Standard Model processes at the 100 TeV pp collider. We document the production rates and typical distributions for a number of benchmark Standard Model processes, and discuss new dynamical phenomena arising at the highest energies available at this collider. We discuss the intrinsic physics interest in the measurement of these Standard Model processes, as well as their role as backgrounds for New Physics searches., Comment: 253 pages, 198 figures. Chapter 1 of the "Physics at the FCC-hh" Report

We review the present status of the determination of parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the light of the precision requirements for the LHC in Run 2 and other future hadron colliders. We provide brief reviews of all currently available PDF sets and use them to compute cross sections for a number of benchmark processes, including Higgs boson production in gluon-gluon fusion at the LHC. We show that the differences in the predictions obtained with the various PDFs are due to particular theory assumptions made in the fits of those PDFs. We discuss PDF uncertainties in the kinematic region covered by the LHC and on averaging procedures for PDFs, such as advocated by the PDF4LHC15 sets, and provide recommendations for the usage of PDF sets for theory predictions at the LHC., Comment: 70 pages pdflatex, 19 figures, 17 tables; final version

This document provides a writeup of all contributions to the workshop on "High precision measurements of $\alpha_s$: From LHC to FCC-ee" held at CERN, Oct. 12--13, 2015. The workshop explored in depth the latest developments on the determination of the QCD coupling $\alpha_s$ from 15 methods where high precision measurements are (or will be) available. Those include low-energy observables: (i) lattice QCD, (ii) pion decay factor, (iii) quarkonia and (iv) $\tau$ decays, (v) soft parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions, as well as high-energy observables: (vi) global fits of parton distribution functions, (vii) hard parton-to-hadron fragmentation functions, (viii) jets in $e^\pm$p DIS and $\gamma$-p photoproduction, (ix) photon structure function in $\gamma$-$\gamma$, (x) event shapes and (xi) jet cross sections in $e^+e^-$ collisions, (xii) W boson and (xiii) Z boson decays, and (xiv) jets and (xv) top-quark cross sections in proton-(anti)proton collisions. The current status of the theoretical and experimental uncertainties associated to each extraction method, the improvements expected from LHC data in the coming years, and future perspectives achievable in $e^+e^-$ collisions at the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) with $\cal{O}$(1--100 ab$^{-1}$) integrated luminosities yielding 10$^{12}$ Z bosons and jets, and 10$^{8}$ W bosons and $\tau$ leptons, are thoroughly reviewed. The current uncertainty of the (preliminary) 2015 strong coupling world-average value, $\alpha_s(m_Z)$ = 0.1177 $\pm$ 0.0013, is about 1\%. Some participants believed this may be reduced by a factor of three in the near future by including novel high-precision observables, although this opinion was not universally shared. At the FCC-ee facility, a factor of ten reduction in the $\alpha_s$ uncertainty should be possible, mostly thanks to the huge Z and W data samples available., Comment: 135 pages, 56 figures. CERN-PH-TH-2015-299, CoEPP-MN-15-13. This document is dedicated to the memory of Guido Altarelli

We present an improved determination of the up- and down-quark distributions in the proton using recent data on charged lepton asymmetries from $W^\pm$ gauge-boson production at the LHC and Tevatron. The analysis is performed in the framework of a global fit of parton distribution functions. The fit results are consistent with a non-zero iso-spin asymmetry of the sea, $x(\bar d - \bar u)$, at small values of Bjorken $x\sim 10^{-4}$ indicating a delayed onset of the Regge asymptotics of a vanishing $(\bar d - \bar u)$-asymmetry at small-$x$. We compare with up- and down-quark distributions available in the literature and provide accurate predictions for the production of single top-quarks at the LHC, a process which can serve as a standard candle for the light quark flavor content of the proton., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures

We consider the impact of the recent data obtained by the LHC, Tevatron, and fixed-target experiments on the nucleon quark distributions with a particular focus on disentangling different quark species. An improved determination of the poorly known strange sea distribution is obtained due to including data from the neutrino-induced deep-inelastic scattering experiments NOMAD and CHORUS. The impact of the associated (W + c) production data by CMS and ATLAS on the strange sea determination is also studied and a comparison with earlier results based on the collider data is discussed. Finally, the recent LHC and Tevatron data on the charged lepton asymmetry are compared to the NNLO ABM predictions and the potential of this input in improving the non-strange sea distributions is evaluated., Comment: Few typos fixed

HERAFitter is an open-source package that provides a framework for the determination of the parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton and for many different kinds of analyses in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). It encodes results from a wide range of experimental measurements in lepton-proton deep inelastic scattering and proton-proton (proton-antiproton) collisions at hadron colliders. These are complemented with a variety of theoretical options for calculating PDF-dependent cross section predictions corresponding to the measurements. The framework covers a large number of the existing methods and schemes used for PDF determination. The data and theoretical predictions are brought together through numerous methodological options for carrying out PDF fits and plotting tools to help visualise the results. While primarily based on the approach of collinear factorisation, HERAFitter also provides facilities for fits of dipole models and transverse-momentum dependent PDFs. The package can be used to study the impact of new precise measurements from hadron colliders. This paper describes the general structure of HERAFitter and its wide choice of options., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures

This report summarizes the proceedings of the 2014 Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) scientific program on "High precision fundamental constants at the TeV scale". The two outstanding parameters in the Standard Model dealt with during the MITP scientific program are the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the top-quark mass $m_t$. Lacking knowledge on the value of those fundamental constants is often the limiting factor in the accuracy of theoretical predictions. The current status on $\alpha_s$ and $m_t$ has been reviewed and directions for future research have been identified., Comment: 57 pages, 24 figures, pdflatex

We present an improved determination of the strange sea distribution in the nucleon with constraints coming from the recent charm production data in neutrino-nucleon deep-inelastic scattering by the NOMAD and CHORUS experiments and from charged current inclusive deep-inelastic scattering at HERA. We demonstrate that the results are consistent with the data from the ATLAS and the CMS experiments on the associated production of $W^\pm$-bosons with $c$-quarks. We also discuss issues related to the recent strange sea determination by the ATLAS experiment using LHC collider data., Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures

We present a global fit of parton distributions at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD. The fit is based on the world data for deep-inelastic scattering, fixed-target data for the Drell-Yan process and includes, for the first time, data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for the Drell-Yan process and the hadro-production of top-quark pairs. The analysis applies the fixed-flavor number scheme for n_f=3,4,5, uses the MS-bar scheme for the strong coupling \alpha_s and the heavy-quark masses and keeps full account of the correlations among all non-perturbative parameters. At NNLO this returns the values of \alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1132 +- 0.0011 and m_t(pole) = 171.2 +- 2.4 GeV for the top-quark pole mass.The fit results are used to compute benchmark cross sections for Higgs production at the LHC to NNLO accuracy. We compare our results to those obtained by other groups and show that differences can be linked to different theoretical descriptions of the underlying physical processes., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures

We report on progress in the determination of the unpolarised nucleon PDFs within the ABM global fit framework. The data used in the ABM analysis are updated including the charm-production and the high-Q2 neutral-current samples obtained at the HERA collider, as well as the LHC data on the differential Drell-Yan cross-sections. An updated set of the PDFs with improved experimental and theoretical accuracy at small x is presented. We find minimal impact of the t-quark production cross section measured at the Tevatron and the LHC on the gluon distribution and the value of the strong coupling constant \alpha_s determined from the ABM fit in the case of the t-quark running-mass definition. In particular, the value of \alpha_s(M_Z)=0.1133(8) is obtained from the variant of the ABM12 fit with the Tevatron and CMS t-quark production cross-section data included and the MSbar value of m_t(m_t)=162 GeV., Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the XXI international workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS2013), Marseille, 22-26 April 2013

We report recent experimental and theoretical progress concerning the heavy-quark electro-production in the context of the ABM11 parton distribution function (PDF) fit. In the updated ABM11 analysis, including the recent combined HERA charm data, the MSbar-values of the c-quark mass m_c(m_c)=1.24 +- 0.03 (exp)\,^{+0.03}_{-0.02}(scale)\,^{+0.00}_{-0.07} (th) and m_c(m_c)=1.15\, +- 0.04 (exp)\,^{+0.04}_{-0.00} (scale) are determined at NNLO and NLO, respectively. The values of m_c obtained are compared to other determinations including the ones based on the various variable-flavor-number (VFN) scheme prescriptions.The VFN scheme uncertainties related to the matching of the 4(5)-flavor PDFs with the 3(4)-flavor ones are discussed., Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the XXI international workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS2013), Marseille, 22-26 April 2013

We describe the determination of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s(M_Z^2)$ and of the charm-quark mass $m_c(m_c)$ in the $\bar{\rm MS}$-scheme, based on the QCD analysis of the unpolarized World deep-inelastic scattering data. At NNLO the values of $\alpha_s(M_Z^2)=0.1134\pm 0.0011(\text{exp})$ and $m_c(m_c)=1.24 \pm 0.03 (\text{exp})\,^{+0.03}_{-0.02} (\text{scale})\,^{+0.00}_{-0.07} (\text{th})$ are obtained and are compared with other determinations, also clarifying discrepancies., Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the workshop "Determination of the Fundamental Parameters of QCD", Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 18-22 March 2013

We report on recent determinations of NNLO parton distributions and of $\alpha_s(M_Z)$ based on the world deep-inelastic data, supplemented by collider data. Some applications are discussed for semi-inclusive processes at the LHC., Comment: 14 pages Latex, 11 pdf figures, Proceedings: Physics in Collision 2012

We report an updated version of the ABKM09 NNLO PDF fit, which includes the most recent HERA collider data on the inclusive cross sections and an improved treatment of the heavy-quark contribution to deep-inelastic scattering using advantages of the running-mass definition for the heavy quarks. The ABM11 PDFs obtained from the updated fit are in a good agreement with the recent LHC data on the W- and Z-production within the experimental and PDF uncertainties. We also perform a determination of the strong coupling constant \alpha_s in a variant of the ABM11 fit insensitive to the influence of the higher twist terms and find the value of \alpha_s=0.1133(11) which is in good agreement with the nominal ABM11 one and our earlier determination., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 11-th DESY Workshop on Elementary Particle Physics - Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory, April 15-20, 2012 Wernigerode, Germany

We present a determination of the charm-quark mass in the MSbar scheme using the data combination of charm production cross section measurements in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA. The framework of global analyses of the proton structure accounts for all correlations of the charm-quark mass with the other non-perturbative parameters, most importantly the gluon distribution function in the proton and the strong coupling constant alpha_s(M_Z). We obtain at next-to-leading order in QCD the value m_c(m_c) = 1.15 +- 0.04 (exp) +0.04/-0.00 (scale) GeV and at approximate next-to-next-to-leading order m_c(m_c) = 1.24 +- 0.03 (exp) +0.03/-0.02 (scale) +0.00/-0.07 (theory) GeV with an accuracy competitive with other methods., Comment: 10 pages latex, 3 figures

The present note relies on the recently published conceptual design report of the LHeC and extends the first contribution to the European strategy debate in emphasising the role of the LHeC to complement and complete the high luminosity LHC programme. The brief discussion therefore focuses on the importance of high precision PDF and $\alpha_s$ determinations for the physics beyond the Standard Model (GUTs, SUSY, Higgs). Emphasis is also given to the importance of high parton density phenomena in nuclei and their relevance to the heavy ion physics programme at the LHC.

This document provides a brief overview of the recently published report on the design of the Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC), which comprises its physics programme, accelerator physics, technology and main detector concepts. The LHeC exploits and develops challenging, though principally existing, accelerator and detector technologies. This summary is complemented by brief illustrations of some of the highlights of the physics programme, which relies on a vastly extended kinematic range, luminosity and unprecedented precision in deep inelastic scattering. Illustrations are provided regarding high precision QCD, new physics (Higgs, SUSY) and electron-ion physics. The LHeC is designed to run synchronously with the LHC in the twenties and to achieve an integrated luminosity of O(100) fb$^{-1}$. It will become the cleanest high resolution microscope of mankind and will substantially extend as well as complement the investigation of the physics of the TeV energy scale, which has been enabled by the LHC.

We analyse a tension between the D0 and CDF inclusive jet data and the perturbative QCD calculations, which are based on the ABKM09 and ABM11 parton distribution functions (PDFs) within the nuisance parameter framework. Particular attention is paid on the uncertainties in the nuisance parameters due to the data fluctuations and the PDF errors. We show that with account of these uncertainties the nuisance parameters do not demonstrate a statistically significant excess. A statistical bias of the estimator based on the nuisance parameters is also discussed., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

We determine the charm-quark mass mc(mc) in the MS-bar scheme using measurements of charm production in deep-inelastic ep scattering at HERA in the kinematic range of photon virtuality from 5 to 1000 GeV squared and Bjorken scaling variable from 0.0001 to 0.5. The extraction of charm quark mass from this process with space-like kinematics provides complementary information to results from hadronic processes. The QCD analysis of the HERA data yields a value of mc(mc) of 1.27 plus minus 0.05(exp) plus 0.06 minus 0.01(scale) GeV at next-to-leading order and mc(mc) of 1.36 plus minus 0.04(exp) plus 0.04 minus 0.00 (scale) plus minus 0.1(theory) GeV at approximate next-to-next-to-leading order. The results are consistent with and of comparable precision as the world average.