PanScales parton showers for hadron collisions: formulation and fixed-order studies

Abstract

We formulate PanScales parton showers for hadron collisions so as to achieve next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) accuracy across a broad set of observables. We do so specifically for colour singlet production. Relative to the existing PanScales final-state showers, the main new question is that of how to redistribute momentum imbalances from initial-state branching across the remainder of the event. We presents tests of the showers at fixed order, including the treatment of full colour for soft-collinear emissions and of spin correlations in both the soft and collinear domains. We also include comparisons to a formulation of a standard dipole shower, the current leading-logarithmic state of the art. A forthcoming companion paper will explore all-order tests of the new showers.

Comments: 65 pages, 15 figures; v2 includes additional clarifications and comparisons, as accepted for publication in JHEP