Combined subleading high-energy logarithms and NLO accuracy for W production in association with multiple jets

Abstract

Large logarithmic corrections in $\hat{s}/p_t^2$ lead to substantial variations in the perturbative predictions for inclusive $W$-plus-dijet processes at the Large Hadron Collider. This instability can be cured by summing the leading-logarithmic contributions in $\hat{s}/p_t^2$ to all orders in ${\alpha }_s$. As expected though, leading logarithmic accuracy is insufficient to guarantee a suitable description in regions of phase space away from the high energy limit. We present (i) the first calculation of all partonic channels contributing at next-to-leading logarithmic order in $W$-boson production in association with at least two jets, and (ii) bin-by-bin matching to next-to-leading fixed-order accuracy. This new perturbative input is implemented in \emph{High Energy Jets}, and systematically improves the description of available experimental data in regions of phase space which are formally subleading with respect to $\hat{s}/p_t^2$.

54 pages, 23 figures. Journal version