Joint resummation in electroweak boson production

Abstract

We present a phenomenological application of the joint resummation formalism to electroweak annihilation processes at measured boson momentum Q_T. This formalism simultaneously resums at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy large threshold and recoil corrections to partonic scattering. We invert the impact parameter transform using a previously described analytic continuation procedure. This leads to a well-defined, resummed perturbative cross section for all nonzero Q_T, which can be compared to resummation carried out directly in Q_T space. From the structure of the resummed expressions, we also determine the form of nonperturbative corrections to the cross section and implement these into our analysis. We obtain a good description of the transverse momentum distribution of Z bosons produced at the Tevatron collider.

Comments: 27 pages, LaTeX, 8 figures as eps files. Some additions to earlier version, this version as published in Phys. Rev. D66 (2002) 014011