Tailored PDFs for New Physics searches

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Cole, Ella, Costantini, Mark N., Hammou, Elie, Mantani, Luca, Merlotti, Francesco, Morales-Alvarado, Manuel, Ubiali, Maria
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Cole, Ella
Costantini, Mark N.
Hammou, Elie
Mantani, Luca
Merlotti, Francesco
Morales-Alvarado, Manuel
Ubiali, Maria
author_facet Cole, Ella
Costantini, Mark N.
Hammou, Elie
Mantani, Luca
Merlotti, Francesco
Morales-Alvarado, Manuel
Ubiali, Maria
contents Given the non-negligible interplay between parton distribution functions (PDFs) at large x and potential New Physics (NP) effects in the high-energy tails of hadron collider observables, a central question is which PDFs can be reliably employed in beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) analyses. In this work, we examine the fine balance between using PDF sets with small uncertainties in the large-x region -- crucial for maximising BSM sensitivity -- and adopting conservative PDF fits that exclude high-energy data potentially contaminated by unaccounted NP contributions. We systematically assess a range of conservative PDF fitting strategies designed to mitigate such biases and provide a recommendation for the class of PDFs best suited for robust BSM searches. In addition, we investigate the alternative approach of performing simultaneous fits of Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) Wilson coefficients and PDFs, thereby consistently accounting for their mutual correlations. Starting from a toy model to illustrate the underlying mechanisms, we then analyse two realistic NP scenarios: one modifying high-mass Drell-Yan production and another affecting the high-invariant-mass tail of top-quark pair production. Both cases are representative of measurements that will be probed with high precision during the High-Luminosity phase of the LHC.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_20235
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tailored PDFs for New Physics searches
Cole, Ella
Costantini, Mark N.
Hammou, Elie
Mantani, Luca
Merlotti, Francesco
Morales-Alvarado, Manuel
Ubiali, Maria
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Given the non-negligible interplay between parton distribution functions (PDFs) at large x and potential New Physics (NP) effects in the high-energy tails of hadron collider observables, a central question is which PDFs can be reliably employed in beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) analyses. In this work, we examine the fine balance between using PDF sets with small uncertainties in the large-x region -- crucial for maximising BSM sensitivity -- and adopting conservative PDF fits that exclude high-energy data potentially contaminated by unaccounted NP contributions. We systematically assess a range of conservative PDF fitting strategies designed to mitigate such biases and provide a recommendation for the class of PDFs best suited for robust BSM searches. In addition, we investigate the alternative approach of performing simultaneous fits of Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) Wilson coefficients and PDFs, thereby consistently accounting for their mutual correlations. Starting from a toy model to illustrate the underlying mechanisms, we then analyse two realistic NP scenarios: one modifying high-mass Drell-Yan production and another affecting the high-invariant-mass tail of top-quark pair production. Both cases are representative of measurements that will be probed with high precision during the High-Luminosity phase of the LHC.
title Tailored PDFs for New Physics searches
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.20235