Theory uncertainties in the fiducial Drell-Yan cross section and distributions

Abstract

In these proceedings we study various sources of theoretical uncertainty in the Drell-Yan $p_T^{\ell \ell }$ spectrum focussing on the $p_T^{\ell \ell }\lesssim 100\mathrm{GeV}$ region. We consider several perturbative aspects related to the choice of the scale setting adopted in resummed calculations, and we assess their impact on the theoretical prediction both for the differential $p_T^{\ell \ell }$ spectrum and for the ${\mathrm{N}}^3\mathrm{LO}$ fiducial cross section. For both quantities, we find the results obtained with the different setups to be compatible with each other within the quoted uncertainty, highlighting the robustness of the theoretical prediction. In all cases, the experimental LHC data for the $p_T^{\ell \ell }$ spectrum is well described by our calculation.

6 pages, 3 figures. Moriond proceedings presenting studies of scale uncertainty in fiducial Drell-Yan production