Theory Colloquia

LHC phenomenology: from postdictions to predictions, or the quest for accuracy

by Stefano Frixione (CERN and EPFL)

Europe/Zurich
TH Theory Conference Room (CERN)

TH Theory Conference Room

CERN

Description
An important ingredient in a successful physics programme at the LHC is the systematic use of precise computations, which help reduce the theoretical bias on experimental analyses, thanks to the possibility of giving reliable predictions with a minimal amount of tuning on real data. Significant progress towards this situation has been made recently, owing to the possibility of computing an arbitrary process to the next-to-leading order accuracy in QCD, including the matching to parton shower Monte Carlos, in a fully automated manner. I shall describe the theoretical ideas which have been used, illustrate some selected applications to LHC physics, and briefly discuss future plans, including extensions to theories other than QCD.
Slides