https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4931-5
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
The photon PDF from high-mass Drell–Yan data at the LHC
1
University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK
2
Department of Physics and Astronomy, VU University, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3
Nikhef Theory Group Science Park 105, 1098 XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
4
DESY Hamburg, Notkestrasse 85, 22609, Hamburg, Germany
5
CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
6
DESY Zeuthen, Platanenallee 6, 15738, Zeuthen, Germany
7
T. Kosciuszko Cracow University of Technology, 30-084, Cracow, Poland
8
SMU Physics, Box 0175, Dallas, TX, 75275-0175, USA
9
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
10
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Joliot-Curie 6, 141980, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia
11
Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
* e-mail: xfitter-help@desy.de
** e-mail: francesco.giuli@cern.ch
Received:
15
February
2017
Accepted:
17
May
2017
Published online:
15
June
2017
Achieving the highest precision for theoretical predictions at the LHC requires the calculation of hard-scattering cross sections that include perturbative QCD corrections up to (N)NNLO and electroweak (EW) corrections up to NLO. Parton distribution functions (PDFs) need to be provided with matching accuracy, which in the case of QED effects involves introducing the photon parton distribution of the proton, 
. In this work a determination of the photon PDF from fits to recent ATLAS measurements of high-mass Drell–Yan dilepton production at 
TeV is presented. This analysis is based on the xFitter framework, and has required improvements both in the APFEL program, to account for NLO QED effects, and in the aMCfast interface to account for the photon-initiated contributions in the EW calculations within MadGraph5_aMC@NLO. The results are compared with other recent QED fits and determinations of the photon PDF, consistent results are found.
© The Author(s), 2017
