Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 829
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5389-1

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Precise predictions for jets dark matter backgrounds

¹ Department of Physics, Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
² Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
³ High Energy Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA
⁴ Fermilab, P.O.Box 500, Batavia, IL, 60510, USA
⁵ Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
⁶ Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
⁷ Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
⁸ Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
⁹ Institut für Theoretische Teilchenphysik und Kosmologie, RWTH Aachen University, 52056, Aachen, Germany
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
¹¹ Department of Physics, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, 14260, USA

^* e-mail: jonas.lindert@gmail.com

Received: 16 October 2017
Accepted: 15 November 2017
Published online: 5 December 2017

Abstract

High-energy jets recoiling against missing transverse energy (MET) are powerful probes of dark matter at the LHC. Searches based on large MET signatures require a precise control of the  jet background in the signal region. This can be achieved by taking accurate data in control regions dominated by  jet,  jet and  jet production, and extrapolating to the  jet background by means of precise theoretical predictions. In this context, recent advances in perturbative calculations open the door to significant sensitivity improvements in dark matter searches. In this spirit, we present a combination of state-of-the-art calculations for all relevant  jets processes, including throughout NNLO QCD corrections and NLO electroweak corrections supplemented by Sudakov logarithms at two loops. Predictions at parton level are provided together with detailed recommendations for their usage in experimental analyses based on the reweighting of Monte Carlo samples. Particular attention is devoted to the estimate of theoretical uncertainties in the framework of dark matter searches, where subtle aspects such as correlations across different  jet processes play a key role. The anticipated theoretical uncertainty in the  jet background is at the few percent level up to the TeV range.