Higher-order EW corrections in ZZ and ZZj production at the LHC

Abstract

We consider the production of a pair of $Z$ bosons at the LHC and study the inclusion of EW corrections in theoretical predictions at fixed order and based on multijet-merged parton-shower simulations. To this end we present exact NLO EW results for $pp\to e^{+}{e}^{-}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$, and, for the first time, for $pp\to e^{+}{e}^{-}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}j$, and compare them to the EW virtual and NLL Sudakov approximation. We then match the exact NLO EW result to the resummed Sudakov logarithms to achieve an improved NLO EW + NLL ${\text{EW}}_{\text{sud}}^{\text{exp}}$ result. Further, we discuss the inclusion of the above EW corrections in MEPS@NLO event simulations in the framework of the Sherpa event generator. We present detailed phenomenological predictions for inclusive $ZZ$ and $ZZj$ production taking into account the dominant EW corrections through the EW virtual approximation, as well as through (exponentiated) EW Sudakov logarithms.

Comments: 39 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables