Search

The pion pair production in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation at flavour factories plays a crucial role in the determination of the hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The recent CMD-3 measurement of the pion form factor via energy scan displays a significant difference with the previous experimental determinations. In order to contribute to an improved theoretical description and simulation of energy scan experiments, we present a calculation of the $e^+ e^- \to \pi^+ \pi^- (\gamma)$ hadronic channel at next-to-leading order matched to a Parton Shower algorithm in QED and sQED. According to the recent advances in the literature, particular attention is paid to the treatment of the pion composite structure in loop diagrams beyond the commonly used factorised sQED approach, as well as to the modelling of multiple photon radiation through the Parton Shower algorithm. In particular, we carry out a detailed discussion on the inclusion of the pion form factor in the virtual sQED corrections according to two independent methods, inspired by the generalised vector meson dominance model and the dispersive approach. We show phenomenological results for inclusive and differential observables which are relevant for precision energy scan measurements, focusing on the impact of the radiative corrections and the effect of the various approaches for the treatment of the pion form factor. Our calculation is implemented in an updated version of the Monte Carlo event generator BabaYaga@NLO, that can be used for fully exclusive simulations in data analysis., Comment: 50 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

This white paper concerns theoretical and phenomenological aspects relevant to the physics of future $e^+e^-$ colliders, in particular regarding initial-state QED radiation. The contributions each contain key technical aspects, and are formulated in a pedagogical manner so as to render them accessible also to those who are not directly working on these and immediately-related topics. This should help both experts and non-experts understand the theoretical challenges that we shall face at future $e^+e^-$ colliders. Specifically, this paper contains descriptions of the treatment of initial state radiation from several Monte Carlo collaborations, as well as contributions that explain a number of more theoretical developments with promise of future phenomenological impact., Comment: Contribution to: 2022 Snowmass Summer Study

We provide an overview of the status of Monte-Carlo event generators for high-energy particle physics. Guided by the experimental needs and requirements, we highlight areas of active development, and opportunities for future improvements. Particular emphasis is given to physics models and algorithms that are employed across a variety of experiments. These common themes in event generator development lead to a more comprehensive understanding of physics at the highest energies and intensities, and allow models to be tested against a wealth of data that have been accumulated over the past decades. A cohesive approach to event generator development will allow these models to be further improved and systematic uncertainties to be reduced, directly contributing to future experimental success. Event generators are part of a much larger ecosystem of computational tools. They typically involve a number of unknown model parameters that must be tuned to experimental data, while maintaining the integrity of the underlying physics models. Making both these data, and the analyses with which they have been obtained accessible to future users is an essential aspect of open science and data preservation. It ensures the consistency of physics models across a variety of experiments., Comment: 164 pages, 10 figures, contribution to Snowmass 2021

The recently proposed MUonE experiment at CERN aims at providing a novel determination of the leading order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment through the study of elastic muon-electron scattering at relatively small momentum transfer. The anticipated accuracy of the order of 10ppm demands for high-precision predictions, including all the relevant radiative corrections. The fixed-order NNLO radiative corrections due to the emission of virtual and real leptonic pairs are described and their numerical impact is discussed for typical event selections of the MUonE experiment, by means of the upgraded Monte Carlo code MESMER., Comment: 35 pages, 26 figures. A Mathematica ancillary file for MIs discussed in Appendix A is provided. Updated to the published version: one reference added, some details added at the end of Section 4, few typos corrected, conclusions unchanged

The recently proposed MUonE experiment at CERN aims at providing a novel determination of the leading order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment through the study of elastic muon-electron scattering at relatively small momentum transfer. The anticipated accuracy of the order of 10ppm demands for high-precision predictions, including all the relevant radiative corrections. The theoretical formulation for the fixed-order NNLO photonic radiative corrections is described and the impact of the numerical results obtained with the corresponding Monte Carlo code is discussed for typical event selections of the MUonE experiment. In particular, the gauge-invariant subsets of corrections due to electron radiation as well as to muon radiation are treated exactly. The two-loop contribution due to diagrams where at least two virtual photons connect the electron and muon lines is approximated taking inspiration from the classical Yennie-Frautschi-Suura approach. The calculation and its Monte Carlo implementation pave the way towards the realization of a simulation code incorporating the full set of NNLO corrections matched to multiple photon radiation, that will be ultimately needed for data analysis., Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures. One figure added, minor corrections implemented. Main results unchanged. References added and updated. Version accepted for publication on JHEP

We review the current status of the theory predictions for elastic $\mu$-$e$ scattering, describing the recent activities and future plans of the theory initiative related to the proposed MUonE experiment., Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures. Invited review for EPJ-C, identical to published version

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN, a proposed 100-km circular facility with several colliders in succession, culminates with a 100 TeV proton-proton collider. It offers a vast new domain of exploration in particle physics, with orders of magnitude advances in terms of Precision, Sensitivity and Energy. The implementation plan foresees, as a first step, an Electroweak Factory electron-positron collider. This high luminosity facility, operating between 90 and 365 GeV centre-of-mass energy, will study the heavy particles of the Standard Model, Z, W, Higgs, and top with unprecedented accuracy. The Electroweak Factory $e^+e^-$ collider constitutes a real challenge to the theory and to precision calculations, triggering the need for the development of new mathematical methods and software tools. A first workshop in 2018 had focused on the first FCC-ee stage, the Tera-Z, and confronted the theoretical status of precision Standard Model calculations on the Z-boson resonance to the experimental demands. The second workshop in January 2019, which is reported here, extended the scope to the next stages, with the production of W-bosons (FCC-ee-W), the Higgs boson (FCC-ee-H) and top quarks (FCC-ee-tt). In particular, the theoretical precision in the determination of the crucial input parameters, alpha_QED, alpha_QCD, M_W, m_t at the level of FCC-ee requirements is thoroughly discussed. The requirements on Standard Model theory calculations were spelled out, so as to meet the demanding accuracy of the FCC-ee experimental potential. The discussion of innovative methods and tools for multi-loop calculations was deepened. Furthermore, phenomenological analyses beyond the Standard Model were discussed, in particular the effective theory approaches. The reports of 2018 and 2019 serve as white papers of the workshop results and subsequent developments., Comment: Published version

The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, was a success achieved with only a percent of the entire dataset foreseen for the LHC. It opened a landscape of possibilities in the study of Higgs boson properties, Electroweak Symmetry breaking and the Standard Model in general, as well as new avenues in probing new physics beyond the Standard Model. Six years after the discovery, with a conspicuously larger dataset collected during LHC Run 2 at a 13 TeV centre-of-mass energy, the theory and experimental particle physics communities have started a meticulous exploration of the potential for precision measurements of its properties. This includes studies of Higgs boson production and decays processes, the search for rare decays and production modes, high energy observables, and searches for an extended electroweak symmetry breaking sector. This report summarises the potential reach and opportunities in Higgs physics during the High Luminosity phase of the LHC, with an expected dataset of pp collisions at 14 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 ab$^{-1}$. These studies are performed in light of the most recent analyses from LHC collaborations and the latest theoretical developments. The potential of an LHC upgrade, colliding protons at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV and producing a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 15 ab$^{-1}$, is also discussed., Comment: Report from Working Group 2 on the Physics of the HL-LHC, and Perspectives at the HE-LHC, 364 pages

The future 100-km circular collider FCC at CERN is planned to operate in one of its modes as an electron-positron FCC-ee machine. We give an overview comparing the theoretical status to the experimental demands of one of four foreseen FCC-ee operating stages, Z-boson resonance energy physics, called the FCC-ee Tera-Z stage for short. The FCC-ee Tera-Z will deliver the highest integrated luminosities as well as very small systematic errors for a study of the Standard Model (SM) with unprecedented precision. In fact, the FCC-ee Tera-Z will allow the study of at least one more perturbative order in quantum field theory compared to the LEP/SLC precision. The real problem is that the present precision of theoretical calculations of the various SM observables does not match that of the anticipated experimental measurements. The bottle-necks to overcoming this situation are identified. In particular, the issues of precise QED unfolding and the correct calculation of SM pseudo-observables are critically reviewed. In an Executive Summary, we specify which basic theoretical calculations are needed to meet the strong experimental expectations at the FCC-ee Tera-Z. Several methods, techniques and tools needed for higher-order multi-loop calculations are presented. By inspection of the Z-boson partial and total decay width analyses, it is argued that at the beginning of operation of the FCC-ee Tera-Z, the theory predictions may be tuned to be precise enough not to limit the physics interpretation of the measurements. This statement is based on anticipated progress in analytical and numerical calculations of multi-loop and multi-scale Feynman integrals and on the completion of two-loop electroweak radiative corrections to the SM pseudo-observables this year. However, the above statement is conditional as the theoretical issues demand a very dedicated and focused investment by the community., Comment: Published version

We study the indirect effects of New Physics in the Higgs decay into four charged leptons, using an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to Higgs interactions. We evaluate the deviations induced by the EFT dimension-six operators in observables like partial decay width and various kinematic distributions, including angular observables, and compare them with the contribution of the full SM electroweak corrections. The calculation is implemented in an improved version of the event generator Hto4l, which can provide predictions in terms of different EFT-bases and is available for data analysis at the LHC. We also perform a phenomenological study in order to assess the benefits coming from the inclusion of differential information in the future analyses of very precise data which will be collected during the high luminosity phase of the LHC., Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Version to appear on JHEP, expanded phenomenological section including an analysis for HL-LHC

This Report summarizes the results of the activities of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group in the period 2014-2016. The main goal of the working group was to present the state-of-the-art of Higgs physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. The first part compiles the most up-to-date predictions of Higgs boson production cross sections and decay branching ratios, parton distribution functions, and off-shell Higgs boson production and interference effects. The second part discusses the recent progress in Higgs effective field theory predictions, followed by the third part on pseudo-observables, simplified template cross section and fiducial cross section measurements, which give the baseline framework for Higgs boson property measurements. The fourth part deals with the beyond the Standard Model predictions of various benchmark scenarios of Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, extended scalar sector, Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and exotic Higgs boson decays. This report follows three previous working-group reports: Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002), Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions (CERN-2012-002), and Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 3. Higgs properties (CERN-2013-004). The current report serves as the baseline reference for Higgs physics in LHC Run 2 and beyond., Comment: 869 pages, 295 figures, 248 tables and 1645 citations. Working Group web page: https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/LHCPhysics/LHCHXSWG

We propose a new experiment to measure the running of the fine-structure constant in the space-like region by scattering high-energy muons on atomic electrons of a low-Z target through the process $\mu e \to \mu e$. The differential cross section of this process, measured as a function of the squared momentum transfer $t=q^2<0$, provides direct sensitivity to the leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomaly $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$. By using a muon beam of 150 GeV, with an average rate of $\sim1.3\times 10^7$ muon/s, currently available at the CERN North Area, a statistical uncertainty of $\sim 0.3\%$ can be achieved on $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$ after two years of data taking. This direct measurement of $a^{\rm{HLO}}_{\mu}$ will provide an independent determination, competitive with the time-like dispersive approach, and consolidate the theoretical prediction for the muon $g$-2 in the Standard Model. It will allow therefore a firmer interpretation of the measurements of the future muon $g$-2 experiments at Fermilab and J-PARC., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

The $J/\psi$ meson has negative $G$-parity so that, in the limit of isospin conservation, its decay into $\pi^+\pi^-$ should be purely electromagnetic. However, the measured branching fraction $\mathcal{B}(J/\psi\to\pi^+\pi^-)$ exceeds by more than 3.9 standard deviations the expectation computed according to BaBar data on the $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ cross section. The possibility that the two-gluon plus one-photon decay mechanism is not suppressed by $G$-parity conservation is discussed, even by considering other multi-pion decay channels. As also obtained by phenomenological computation, such a decay mechanism could be responsible for the observed discrepancy. Finally, we notice that the BESIII experiment, having the potential to perform an accurate measurement of the $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ cross section in the 3 GeV energy region, can definitely prove or disprove this strong $G$-parity-violating mechanism by confirming or confuting the BaBar data., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

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

This report was prepared in the context of the LPCC "Electroweak Precision Measurements at the LHC WG" and summarizes the activity of a subgroup dedicated to the systematic comparison of public Monte Carlo codes, which describe the Drell-Yan processes at hadron colliders, in particular at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This work represents an important step towards the definition of an accurate simulation framework necessary for very high-precision measurements of electroweak (EW) observables such as the $W$ boson mass and the weak mixing angle. All the codes considered in this report share at least next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy in the prediction of the total cross sections in an expansion either in the strong or in the EW coupling constant. The NLO fixed-order predictions have been scrutinized at the technical level, using exactly the same inputs, setup and perturbative accuracy, in order to quantify the level of agreement of different implementations of the same calculation. A dedicated comparison, again at the technical level, of three codes that reach next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) accuracy in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) for the total cross section has also been performed. These fixed-order results are a well-defined reference that allows a classification of the impact of higher-order sets of radiative corrections. Several examples of higher-order effects due to the strong or the EW interaction are discussed in this common framework. Also the combination of QCD and EW corrections is discussed, together with the ambiguities that affect the final result, due to the choice of a specific combination recipe., Comment: 92 pages, report of the working group on precision calculations for Drell-Yan processes

This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2015 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt with (I) new developments relevant for high precision Standard Model calculations, (II) the new PDF4LHC parton distributions, (III) issues in the theoretical description of the production of Standard Model Higgs bosons and how to relate experimental measurements, (IV) a host of phenomenological studies essential for comparing LHC data from Run I with theoretical predictions and projections for future measurements in Run II, and (V) new developments in Monte Carlo event generators., Comment: Proceedings of the Standard Model Working Group of the 2015 Les Houches Workshop, Physics at TeV Colliders, Les Houches 1-19 June 2015. 227 pages

This Report summarizes the results of the activities in 2014 of the Standard Model Working Group within the workshop "What Next" of INFN. We present a framework, general questions, and some indications of possible answers on the main issue for Standard Model physics in the LHC era and in view of possible future accelerators., Comment: 78 pages 3 figures; Numerous small corrections. Final revised version, to be published in European Journal of Physics C

This Report summarizes the proceedings of the 2013 Les Houches workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Session 1 dealt primarily with (1) the techniques for calculating standard model multi-leg NLO and NNLO QCD and NLO EW cross sections and (2) the comparison of those cross sections with LHC data from Run 1, and projections for future measurements in Run 2., Comment: Proceedings of the Standard Model Working Group of the 2013 Les Houches Workshop, Physics at TeV Colliders, Les houches 3-21 June 2013. 200 pages

This is the summary report of the energy frontier QCD working group prepared for Snowmass 2013. We review the status of tools, both theoretical and experimental, for understanding the strong interactions at colliders. We attempt to prioritize important directions that future developments should take. Most of the efforts of the QCD working group concentrate on proton-proton colliders, at 14 TeV as planned for the next run of the LHC, and for 33 and 100 TeV, possible energies of the colliders that will be necessary to carry on the physics program started at 14 TeV. We also examine QCD predictions and measurements at lepton-lepton and lepton-hadron colliders, and in particular their ability to improve our knowledge of strong coupling constant and parton distribution functions., Comment: 62 pages, 31 figures, Snowmass community summer study 2013

The discovery by the ATLAS and CMS experiments of a new boson with mass around 125 GeV and with measured properties compatible with those of a Standard-Model Higgs boson, coupled with the absence of discoveries of phenomena beyond the Standard Model at the TeV scale, has triggered interest in ideas for future Higgs factories. A new circular e+e- collider hosted in a 80 to 100 km tunnel, TLEP, is among the most attractive solutions proposed so far. It has a clean experimental environment, produces high luminosity for top-quark, Higgs boson, W and Z studies, accommodates multiple detectors, and can reach energies up to the t-tbar threshold and beyond. It will enable measurements of the Higgs boson properties and of Electroweak Symmetry-Breaking (EWSB) parameters with unequalled precision, offering exploration of physics beyond the Standard Model in the multi-TeV range. Moreover, being the natural precursor of the VHE-LHC, a 100 TeV hadron machine in the same tunnel, it builds up a long-term vision for particle physics. Altogether, the combination of TLEP and the VHE-LHC offers, for a great cost effectiveness, the best precision and the best search reach of all options presently on the market. This paper presents a first appraisal of the salient features of the TLEP physics potential, to serve as a baseline for a more extensive design study., Comment: 43 pages, 18 figures, 11 tables, 85 references. Changes with respect to version V2: The comments from the JHEP referee are now included

We present a fully consistent implementation of electroweak and strong radiative corrections to single W hadroproduction in the POWHEG BOX framework, treating soft and collinear photon emissions on the same ground as coloured parton emissions. This framework can be easily extended to more complex electroweak processes. We describe how next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak corrections are combined with the NLO QCD calculation, and show how they are interfaced to QCD and QED shower Monte Carlo. The resulting tool fills a gap in the literature and allows to study comprehensively the interplay of QCD and electroweak effects to W production using a single computational framework. Numerical comparisons with the predictions of the electroweak generator HORACE, as well as with existing results on the combination of electroweak and QCD corrections to W production, are shown for the LHC energies, to validate the reliability and accuracy of the approach, Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures. Minor corrections, references added and updated. Final version to appear in JHEP

We provide an exact calculation of next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) massive corrections to Bhabha scattering in QED, relevant for precision luminosity monitoring at meson factories. Using realistic reference event selections, exact numerical results for leptonic and hadronic corrections are given and compared with the corresponding approximate predictions of the event generator BabaYaga@NLO. It is shown that the NNLO massive corrections are necessary for luminosity measurements with per mille precision. At the same time they are found to be well accounted for in the generator at an accuracy level below the one per mille. An update of the total theoretical precision of BabaYaga@NLO is presented and possible directions for a further error reduction are sketched., Comment: 5 pages, 3 tables, contrib. to proceedings of International Workshop on e+e- collisions: from Phi to Psi, PHIPSI11, BINP, Novosibirsk, Russia, September 19-22, 2011

Virtual fermionic N_f = 1 and N_f = 2 contributions to Bhabha scattering are combined with realistic real corrections at next-to-next-to-leading order in QED. The virtual corrections are determined by the package bha_nnlo_hf, and real corrections with the Monte Carlo generators Bhagen-1Ph, Helac-Phegas and Ekhara. Numerical results are discussed at the energies of and with realistic cuts used at the Phi factory DAFNE, at the B factories PEP-II and KEK, and at the charm/tau factory BEPC II. We compare these complete calculations with the approximate ones realized in the generator BabaYaga@NLO used at meson factories to evaluate their luminosities. For realistic reference event selections we find agreement for the NNLO leptonic and hadronic corrections within 0.07% or better and conclude that they are well accounted for in the generator by comparison with the present experimental accuracy., Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, 13 tables

High-luminosity e+ e- colliders at the GeV scale (flavor factories) have been recently recognized to be an ideal environment to search for a light weakly coupled vector boson U (dark photon) emerging in several new physics models able to interpret anomalous astrophysical observations in terms of dark matter. At flavor factories a particularly clean channel is the production of the U boson in association with a photon, followed by the decay of the U boson into lepton pairs. Beyond the approximations addressed in previous works, we revisit the reach potential of this channel by performing an exact lowest-order calculation of the signal and background processes. We also include the effect of initial and final state QED corrections neglected so far, to show how they affect the distributions of experimental interest. We present new results for the expected statistical significance to a dark photon signal at KLOE/KLOE-2 and future super-B factories. The calculation is implemented in a new release of the event generator BabaYaga@NLO, which is available for full event simulations and data analysis., Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. New numerical results and references added. Revised version accepted for publication in EPJ C

The status and accuracy of the precision Monte Carlo generators used for luminosity measurements at flavour factories is reviewed. It is shown that, thanks to a considerable, long-term effort in tuned comparisons between the predictions of independent programs, as well as in the validation of the generators against the presently available calculations of the next-to-next-to-leading order QED corrections to Bhabha scattering, the theoretical accuracy reached by the most precise tools is of about one per mille. This error estimate is valid for realistic experimental cuts, appears to be quite robust and is already sufficient for very accurate luminosity measurements. However, recent progress and possible advances to further improve it are also discussed., Comment: 6 pages, 1 table. Proceedings of the PhiPsi09 workshop, Oct. 13-16, 2009, Beijing, China

We present the achievements of the last years of the experimental and theoretical groups working on hadronic cross section measurements at the low energy e+e- colliders in Beijing, Frascati, Ithaca, Novosibirsk, Stanford and Tsukuba and on tau decays. We sketch the prospects in these fields for the years to come. We emphasise the status and the precision of the Monte Carlo generators used to analyse the hadronic cross section measurements obtained as well with energy scans as with radiative return, to determine luminosities and tau decays. The radiative corrections fully or approximately implemented in the various codes and the contribution of the vacuum polarisation are discussed., Comment: Report of the "Working Group on Radiative Corrections and Monte Carlo Generators for Low Energies"; 99 pages, submitted to EPJC

We introduce the formalism of generalized Fourier transforms in the context of risk management. We develop a general framework to efficiently compute the most popular risk measures, Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall (also known as Conditional Value-at-Risk). The only ingredient required by our approach is the knowledge of the characteristic function describing the financial data in use. This allows to extend risk analysis to those non-Gaussian models defined in the Fourier space, such as Levy noise driven processes and stochastic volatility models. We test our analytical results on data sets coming from various financial indexes, finding that our predictions outperform those provided by the standard Log-Normal dynamics and are in remarkable agreement with those of the benchmark historical approach., Comment: Feller's condition removed, some typos in Appendix A amended

Precision studies of the production of a high-transverse momentum lepton in association with missing energy at hadron colliders require that electroweak and QCD higher-order contributions are simultaneously taken into account in theoretical predictions and data analysis. Here we present a detailed phenomenological study of the impact of electroweak and strong contributions, as well as of their combination, to all the observables relevant for the various facets of the $p\smartpap \to {\rm lepton} + X$ physics programme at hadron colliders, including luminosity monitoring and Parton Distribution Functions constraint, $W$ precision physics and search for new physics signals. We provide a theoretical recipe to carefully combine electroweak and strong corrections, that are mandatory in view of the challenging experimental accuracy already reached at the Fermilab Tevatron and aimed at the CERN LHC, and discuss the uncertainty inherent the combination. We conclude that the theoretical accuracy of our calculation can be conservatively estimated to be about 2% for standard event selections at the Tevatron and the LHC, and about 5% in the very high $W$ transverse mass/lepton transverse momentum tails. We also provide arguments for a more aggressive error estimate (about 1% and 3%, respectively) and conclude that in order to attain a one per cent accuracy: 1) exact mixed ${\cal O}(\alpha \alpha_s)$ corrections should be computed in addition to the already available NNLO QCD contributions and two-loop electroweak Sudakov logarithms; 2) QCD and electroweak corrections should be coherently included into a single event generator., Comment: One reference added. Final version to appear in JHEP

These proceedings collect the presentations given at the first three meetings of the INFN "Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC", held at the Frascati National Laboratories in 2006. The first part of these proceedings contains pedagogical introductions to several basic topics of both theoretical and experimental high pT LHC physics. The second part collects more specialised presentations., Comment: 239 pages, 222 figures

We review the status of Monte Carlo generators presently used for simulations of the large-angle Bhabha process at electron-positron colliders of moderately high energy (flavour factories), operating at centre-of-mass energies between about 1 GeV and 10 GeV. It is shown how the theoretical accuracy reached by present Bhabha programs for physics at flavour factories is at the level of 0.1% and, therefore, comparable with that reached about a decade ago for luminosity monitoring through small-angle Bhabha scattering at LEP., Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the 9th DESY workshop on "Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory", Sondershausen, April 2008

The relevance of single-W and single-Z production processes at hadron colliders is well known: in the present paper the status of theoretical calculations of Drell-Yan processes is summarized and some results on the combination of electroweak and QCD corrections to a sample of observables of the process $p p \to W^\pm \to \mu^\pm + X$ at the LHC are discussed. The phenomenological analysis shows that a high-precision knowledge of QCD and a careful combination of electroweak and strong contributions is mandatory in view of the anticipated LHC experimental accuracy. One of the authors (O.N.) dedicates these notes to Prof. S. Jadach, in honour of his 60th birthday and grateful for all that Prof. Jadach taught him during their fruitful collaboration., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, invited talk at the 2008 Cracow Epiphany Conference in honour of the 60th birthday of Prof. S. Jadach

This report summarizes the activity on comparisons of existings tools for the standard model and on issues in jet physics by the SMHC working group during and subsequent to the Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, France, 11-29 June, 2007., Comment: 94 pages, LaTeX, many figures. Summary report of the tools and jets parts of the SMHC working group of the Les Houches 2007 workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, France, 11-29 June, 2007

We present a high-precision QED calculation, with 0.1% theoretical accuracy, of two photon production in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation, as required by more and more accurate luminosity monitoring at flavour factories. The accuracy of the approach, which is based on the matching of exact next-to-leading order corrections with a QED Parton Shower algorithm, is demonstrated through a detailed analysis of the impact of the various sources of radiative corrections to the experimentally relevant observables. The calculation is implemented in the latest version of the event generator BabaYaga, available for precision simulations of photon pair production at $e^+ e^-$ colliders of moderately high energies., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

We present a detailed study of the production of a high transverse-momentum lepton pair at hadron colliders, which includes the exact O(alpha) electroweak corrections properly matched with leading logarithmic effects due to multiple photon emission, as required by the experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC. Numerical results for the relevant observables of single Z-boson production at hadron colliders are presented. The impact of the radiative corrections is discussed in detail. The presence in the proton of a photon density is considered and the effects of the photon-induced partonic subprocesses are analyzed. The calculation has been implemented in the new version of the event generator HORACE, which is available for precision simulations of the neutral and charged current Drell-Yan processes., Comment: October 2007, 22pp

The correlated stochastic volatility models constitute a natural extension of the Black and Scholes-Merton framework: here the volatility is not a constant, but a stochastic process correlated with the price log-return one. At present, several stochastic volatility models are discussed in the literature, differing in the dynamics attached to the volatility. The aim of the present work is to compare the most recent results about three popular models: the Vasicek, Heston and exponential Ornstein-Uhlenbeck models. We analyzed for each of them the theoretical results known in the literature (volatility and return distribution, higher-order moments and different-time correlations) in order to test their predictive effectiveness on the outcomes of original numerical simulations, paying particular attention to their ability to reproduce empirical statistical properties of prices. The numerical results demonstrate that these models can be implemented maintaining all their features, especially in view of financial applications like market risk management or option pricing. In order to critically compare the models, we also perform an empirical analysis of financial time series from the Italian stock market, showing the exponential Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model's ability to capture the stylized facts of volatility and log-return probability distributions., Comment: 8 pages, 7 .eps figures, APFA6 conference contribution (4-7 July 2007, Lisbon)

The top quark and electroweak bosons (W and Z) represent the most massive fundamental particles yet discovered, and as such refer directly to the Standard Model's greatest remaining mystery: the mechanism by which all particles gained mass. This report summarizes the work done within the top-ew group of the Tevatron-for-LHC workshop. It represents a collection of both Tevatron results, and LHC predictions. The hope is that by considering and comparing both machines, the LHC program can be improved and aided by knowledge from the Tevatron, and that particle physics as a whole can be enriched. The report includes measurements of the top quark mass, searches for single top quark production, and physics of the electroweak bosons at hadron colliders., Comment: 206 pages, Tevatron-for-LHC Conference Report of the Top and Electroweak Working Group

A new version of the event generator BABAYAGA is presented, which is based on an original matching of the Parton Shower approach with the complete exact O(alpha) matrix element for the inclusion of the QED radiative corrections to the Bhabha process at flavour factories. The theoretical accuracy of the improved generator is conservatively estimated to be 0.2%, by comparison with independent calculations. The generator is a useful tool for precise luminosity determination at flavour factories, for center of mass energies below 10 GeV., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the International Workshop e+ e- Collisions from phi to psi, Novosibirsk (Russia), 27 Feb - 2 Mar 2006

A concise review about the status of the calculation of radiative corrections to the Drell-Yan processes is presented. The effect of matching together exact electroweak O(alpha) corrections with higher-order QED effects due to multiple photon emission is displayed in some physical distributions in the charged current channel, which have obtained with the new version of the event generator HORACE., Comment: 4 pages, talk given at IFAE 2006, Pavia, April 19-21 2006

We report on a high-precision calculation of the Bhabha process in QED, of interest for precise luminosity determination of low-energy electron-positron colliders. The calculation is based on the matching of exact next-to-leading order corrections with a Parton Shower algorithm. The structure of the algorithm (implemented in an improved version of the event generator BABAYAGA) is illustrated, with a discussion on the resulting theoretical uncertainty, of the order of 0.1 %., Comment: 4 pages. Talk given at the XXXIII International Conference on High Energy Physics, ICHEP06, Moscow, 26 July - 02 August, 2006

We present a detailed study of the charged current Drell-Yan process, which includes the exact O(alpha) electroweak corrections properly matched with leading-log effects due to multiple-photon emission, as required by the experiments at the Tevatron and the LHC. Numerical results for the relevant observables of single W boson production at hadron colliders are presented. The impact of the radiative corrections and of some sources of theoretical uncertainty is discussed in detail. The calculation has been implemented in the new version of the event generator HORACE, which is available for precision simulations of the charged current Drell-Yan process., Comment: 29 pages, 19 figures, it uses JHEP3 style

Reliable calculations of financial risk require that the fat-tailed nature of prices changes is included in risk measures. To this end, a non-Gaussian approach to financial risk management is presented, modeling the power-law tails of the returns distribution in terms of a Student-$t$ (or Tsallis) distribution. Non-Gaussian closed-form solutions for Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall are obtained and standard formulae known in the literature under the normality assumption are recovered as a special case. The implications of the approach for risk management are demonstrated through an empirical analysis of financial time series from the Italian stock market. Detailed comparison with the results of the widely used procedures of quantitative finance, such as parametric normal approach, RiskMetrics methodology and historical simulation, as well as with previous findings in the literature, are shown and commented. Particular attention is paid to quantify the size of the errors affecting the risk measures obtained according to different methodologies, by employing a bootstrap technique., Comment: revtex4, 10 pages, 3 figures, proceeding of Apfa5 Conference

We report on a high-precision calculation of the Bhabha process in Quantum Electrodynamics, of interest for precise luminosity determination of electron-positron colliders involved in R measurements in the region of hadronic resonances. The calculation is based on the matching of exact next-to-leading order corrections with a Parton Shower algorithm. The accuracy of the approach is demonstrated in comparison with existing independent calculations and through a detailed analysis of the main components of theoretical uncertainty, including two-loop corrections, hadronic vacuum polarization and light pair contributions. The calculation is implemented in an improved version of the event generator BABAYAGA with a theoretical accuracy of the order of 0.1%. The generator is now available for high-precision simulations of the Bhabha process at flavour factories., Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures, uses elsart.cls. Version to appear on Nuclear Physics B

Reliable calculations of financial risk require that the fat-tailed nature of prices changes is included in risk measures. To this end, a non-Gaussian approach to financial risk management is presented, modeling the power-law tails of the returns distribution in terms of a Student-t distribution. Non-Gaussian closed-form solutions for Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall are obtained and standard formulae known in the literature under the normality assumption are recovered as a special case. The implications of the approach for risk management are demonstrated through an empirical analysis of financial time series from the Italian stock market and in comparison with the results of the most widely used procedures of quantitative finance. Particular attention is paid to quantify the size of the errors affecting the market risk measures obtained according to different methodologies, by employing a bootstrap technique., Comment: Latex 15 pages, 3 figures and 5 tables 68% c. levels for tail exponents corrected, conclusions unchanged

This Report summarises the activities of the "SM and Higgs" working group for the Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, France, 2-20 May, 2005. On the one hand, we performed a variety of experimental and theoretical studies on standard candles (such as W, Z, and ttbar production), treating them either as proper signals of known physics, or as backgrounds to unknown physics; we also addressed issues relevant to those non-perturbative or semi-perturbative ingredients, such as Parton Density Functions and Underlying Events, whose understanding will be crucial for a proper simulation of the actual events taking place in the detectors. On the other hand, several channels for the production of the Higgs, or involving the Higgs, have been considered in some detail. The report is structured into four main parts. The first one deals with Standard Model physics, except the Higgs. A variety of arguments are treated here, from full simulation of processes constituting a background to Higgs production, to studies of uncertainties due to PDFs and to extrapolations of models for underlying events, from small-$x$ issues to electroweak corrections which may play a role in vector boson physics. The second part of the report treats Higgs physics from the point of view of the signal. In the third part, reviews are presented on the current status of multi-leg, next-to-leading order and of next-to-next-to-leading order QCD computations. Finally, the fourth part deals with the use of Monte Carlos for simulation of LHC physics., Comment: 234 pages, 173 figures. Web page of the workshop (with links to the talks): http://lappweb.in2p3.fr/conferences/LesHouches/Houches2005/

At the LHC a precise measurement of the Higgs boson mass (if discovered), at the level of 0.1-1%, will be possible through the channel g g --> H --> 4l for a wide range of Higgs mass values. To match such an accuracy, the systematic effects induced by QED corrections need to be investigated. In the present study the calculation of O(alpha) and higher order QED corrections is illustrated as well as their impact on the Higgs mass determination, once realistic event selection criteria for charged leptons and photons are considered., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Presented at HEP2005 July 21st-27th, 2005, Lisboa, Portugal and at RADCOR 2005, Shonan Village, October 2nd-7th, 2005, Japan

In the framework of Black-Scholes-Merton model of financial derivatives, a path integral approach to option pricing is presented. A general formula to price European path dependent options on multidimensional assets is obtained and implemented by means of various flexible and efficient algorithms. As an example, we detail the cases of Asian, barrier knock out, reverse cliquet and basket call options, evaluating prices and Greeks. The numerical results are compared with those obtained with other procedures used in quantitative finance and found to be in good agreement. In particular, when pricing at-the-money and out-of-the-money options, the path integral approach exhibits competitive performances., Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, 6 tables

We present the comparisons of two independent Monte Carlo event generators, HORACE and WINHAC, for single-W-boson production in hadronic collisions with multiphoton effects in leptonic W decays. These comparisons were performed first at the parton level with fixed quark-beams energy, and then at the hadron level for proton-proton collisions at the LHC. In general, a good agreement between the two programs has been found. Possible sources of differences in some of the presented results are discussed. We also present and discuss the effects of including non-zero quark masses for the main single-W-boson observables at the LHC., Comment: 32 pages, 40 PostScript figures

At present and future hadron colliders, the precision physics program started in the past will be continued. In particular, a precise determination of the W boson mass will be carried out. This requires the calculation of the radiative corrections and their implementation in Monte Carlo event generators for data analysis. In this talk, the status of the calculation of the order alpha electroweak radiative corrections is reviewed and a study of the impact of higher order QED corrections on the W boson mass is presented., Comment: Talk given at 15th Conference on High-Energy Physics (IFAE 2003), Lecce, Italy, 23-26 Apr 2003