Speaker
Description
Given the known non-negligible interplay between large-x PDFs and new physics signals, what PDFs are suitable for new physics searches?
In this talk I discuss the fine balance between the benefit of constraining PDFs with high-energy observables to reduce their uncertainties in the large-x region that is relevant for new physics searches and the risk of fitting away potential signs of new physics within the PDF parametrisation by doing so. I explore two solutions: fitting simultaneously the PDFs and the SMEFT and fitting them separately in a “conservative way”, meaning by only adding to the PDF-fit dataset observables which can be safely considered SM-like. I compare the performances of the two strategies in a closure test for the Drell-Yan and top sectors and conclude by identifying a general set of good practices and recommendations.
I also discuss preliminary results yielded by this approach in the analysis of a real-data discrepancy in the jet sector.
