A positive-weight next-to-leading order Monte Carlo simulation of Drell-Yan vector boson production

Abstract

The positive weight next-to-leading-order (NLO) matching scheme (POWHEG) is applied to Drell-Yan vector boson production in the Herwig++ Monte Carlo event generator. This approach consistently combines the NLO calculation and parton shower simulation without the production of negative weight events. The simulation includes a full implementation of the truncated shower required to correctly describe soft emissions in an angular-ordered parton shower, for the first time. The results are compared with Tevatron W ± and Z production data. Predictions for the transverse momentum spectrum of gauge bosons at the LHC are presented. © 2008 SISSA.