Factorization and resummation for generic hierarchies between Jets

Abstract

Jets are an important probe to identify the hard interaction of interest at the LHC. They are routinely used in Standard Model precision measurements as well as in searches for new heavy particles, including jet substructure methods. In processes with several jets, one typically encounters hierarchies in the jet transverse momenta and/or dijet invariant masses. Large logarithms of the ratios of these kinematic jet scales in the cross section are at present primarily described by parton showers. We present a general factorization framework called SCET+, which is an extension of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) and allows for a systematic higher-order resummation of such kinematic logarithms for generic jet hierarchies. In SCET+ additional intermediate soft/collinear modes are used to resolve jets arising from additional soft and/or collinear QCD emissions. The resulting factorized cross sections utilize collinear splitting amplitudes and soft gluon currents and fully capture spin and color correlations. We discuss how to systematically combine the different kinematic regimes to obtain a complete description of the jet phase space. To present its application in a simple context, we use the case of e+e− → 3 jets. We then discuss in detail the application to N -jet processes at hadron colliders, considering representative classes of hierarchies from which the general case can be built. This includes in particular multiple hierarchies that are either strongly ordered in angle or energy or not.