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We present a methodology to streamline implementation of massive-quark radiative contributions in calculations with a variable number of active partons in proton-proton collisions. The methodology introduces and heavy-quark parton distribution functions (PDFs) to implement calculations in the Aivazis–Collins–Olness–Tung (ACOT) factorization scheme and its simplified realization in various processes up to the next-to-the-next-to-leading order in the QCD coupling strength. Interpolation tables for bottom-quark subtraction and residual distributions for CT18 NLO and NNLO PDF ensembles are provided in the common LHAPDF6 format. A numerical calculation of $Z$-boson production with at least one $b$jet at the Large Hadron Collider beyond the lowest order in QCD is considered for illustration purposes. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

In this study, we investigate the impact of new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) inclusive jet and dijet measurements on parton distribution functions (PDFs) that describe the proton structure, with a particular focus on the gluon distribution at large momentum fraction, $x$, and the corresponding partonic luminosities. We assess constraints from these datasets using next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) theoretical predictions, accounting for a range of uncertainties from scale dependence and numerical integration. From the scale choices available for the calculations, our analysis shows that the central predictions for inclusive jet production show a smaller scale dependence than dijet production. We examine the relative constraints on the gluon distribution provided by the inclusive jet and dijet distributions, and also explore the phenomenological implications for inclusive $H$, $t\overline{t}$, and $t\overline{t}H$production at the LHC at 14 TeV. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

We discuss the impact of eligible top-quark pair production differential cross-section measurements at the LHC with a collision energy of 13 TeV on the parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton as well as the impact of approximate next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (aN3LO) QCD corrections combined with next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak (EW) corrections on tt¯ observables. We illustrate the effects on the gluon PDF at large x from an optimal baseline selection of data in NNLO global fits, and show comparisons between the theory prediction for tt¯ total and differential cross sections at aN3LO QCD combined with NLO EW and recent measurements from the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the LHC. 

We review recent studies by the CTEQ-TEA group toward the development of a new generation of precision parton distribution functions in the nucleon for advanced studies at the high-luminosity LHC and in other experiments. Among several ongoing e!orts, we examine sensitivity to the PDFs and mutual compatibility of new measurements in production of Drell-Yan pairs, top-quark pairs, and single-inclusive jets by the ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb collaborations in the LHC Runs 1 and 2. 

In this work, we complete our CT18qed study with the neutron’s photon parton distribution function (PDF), which is essential for the nucleus scattering phenomenology. Two methods, CT18lux and CT18qed, based on the LUXqed formalism and the DGLAP evolution, respectively, to determine the neutron’s photon PDF have been presented. Various low-Q²non-perturbative variations have been carefully examined, which are treated as additional uncertainties on top of those induced by quark and gluon PDFs. The impacts of the momentum sum rule as well as isospin symmetry violation have been explored and turned out to be negligible. A detailed comparison with other neutron’s photon PDF sets has been performed, which shows a great improvement in the precision and a reasonable uncertainty estimation. Finally, two phenomenological implications are demonstrated with photon-initiated processes: neutrino-nucleusW-boson production, which is important for the near-future TeV–PeV neutrino observations, and the axion-like particle production at a high-energy muon beam-dump experiment. 

We present a state-of-the-art prediction for cross sections of neutrino deep inelastic scattering (DIS) from nucleon at high neutrino energies, $E_{\nu }$, up to 1000 EeV ( ${10}^{12}\mathrm{GeV}$). Our calculations are based on the latest CT18 NNLO parton distribution functions (PDFs) and their associated uncertainties. To make predictions for the highest energies, we extrapolate the PDFs to small $x$according to several procedures and assumptions, thus affecting the uncertainties at ultrahigh $E_{\nu }$; we quantify the uncertainties corresponding to these choices. Similarly, we quantify the uncertainties introduced by the nuclear corrections that are required to evaluate neutrino-nuclear cross sections for the neutrino observatories. These results can be applied to currently running astrophysical neutrino observatories, such as IceCube and KM3NeT, as well as various future experiments that have been proposed.