Strong coupling ${\alpha }_s(m_Z)$ extraction from a combined NNLO analysis of inclusive electroweak boson cross sections at hadron colliders

Abstract

The inclusive cross sections of W${}^{+}$, W${}^{-}$, and Z boson production from 34 different measurements performed in proton-(anti)proton collisions at center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8--13 TeV, are compared to perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) accuracy with four sets of parton distributions functions (CT14, HERAPDF2.0, MMHT14, and NNPDF3.0 PDFs) and varying values of the strong coupling constant at the Z mass pole, ${\alpha }_s(m_Z)$. The data-theory agreement is good within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties, with the CT14 and MMHT14 parton densities providing the most overall consistent description of all cross section data. A value of ${\alpha }_s(m_Z)=0.1188_{-0.0013}^{+0.0019}$ is extracted from a combined fit of the 28 experimental LHC measurements to the corresponding NNLO theoretical predictions obtained with the MMHT14 PDF set, which provides the most robust and stable QCD coupling extraction of this analysis.

31 pages, 26 figures. Additional cross-checks and clarifications added. Results unchanged. Version to appear in JHEP

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• The Large Hadron-Electron Collider at the HL-LHC
• QCD Running Couplings and Effective Charges
• Measurement of energy correlators inside jets and determination of the strong coupling ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{S}}(m_{\mathrm{Z}})$
• Determination of the strong-coupling constant from the $Z$-boson transverse-momentum distribution
• Measurement of multijet azimuthal correlations and determination of the strong coupling in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV