Single-top-quark production in the $t$-channel at NNLO

Abstract

We present a calculation of t-channel single-top-quark production and decay in the five-flavor scheme at NNLO. Our results resolve a disagreement between two previous calculations of this process that found a difference in the inclusive cross section at the level of the NNLO coefficient itself. We compare in detail with the previous calculations at the inclusive, differential and fiducial level including b-quark tagging at a fixed scale $\mu =m_t$. In addition, we advocate the use of double deep inelastic scattering (DDIS) scales (${\mu }^2=Q^2$ for the light-quark line and ${\mu }^2=Q^2+m_t^2$ for the heavy-quark line) that maximize perturbative stability and allow for robust scale uncertainties. All NNLO and NLO$\otimes$NLO contributions for production and decay are included in the on-shell and vertex-function approximation. We present fiducial and differential results for a variety of observables used in Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model analyses, and find an important difference between the NLO and NNLO predictions of exclusive $t+n$-jet cross sections. Overall we find that NNLO corrections are crucial for a precise identification of the t-channel process.

Comments: 40 pages, 22 figures, JHEP published version