Threshold Resummation and Higher Order Effects in QCD

Abstract

Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is a quantum field theory that describes the strong interactions between quarks and gluons, the building blocks of all hadrons. Thanks to the experimental progress over the past decades, there has been an ever-growing need for QCD precision calculations for scattering processes involving hadrons. For processes at large momentum transfer, perturbative QCD offers a systematic approach for obtaining precise predictions. This approach relies on two key concepts: the asymptotic freedom of QCD and factorization. In a perturbative calculation at higher orders, the infrared cancellation between virtual and real emission diagrams generally leaves behind logarithmic contributions. In many observables relevant for hadronic scattering these logarithms are associated with a kinematic threshold and are hence known as “threshold logarithms”. They become large when the available phase space for real gluon emission shrinks. In order to obtain a reliable prediction from QCD, the threshold logarithms need to be taken into account to all orders in the strong coupling constant, a procedure known as "threshold resummation“. The main focus of my PhD thesis is on studies of QCD threshold resummation effects beyond the next-to-leading logarithmic order. Here we primarily consider the production of hadron pairs in hadronic collisions as an example. In addition, we also consider hadronic jet production, which is particularly interesting for the phenomenology at the LHC. For both processes, we fully take into account the non-trivial QCD color structure of the underlying partonic hard- scattering cross sections. We find that threshold resummation leads to sizable numerical effects in the kinematic regimes relevant for comparisons to experimental data.