Total Top-Quark Pair-Production Cross Section at Hadron Colliders Through<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi mathvariant="script">O</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:msubsup><mml:mi>α</mml:mi><mml:mi>S</mml:mi><mml:mn>4</mml:mn></mml:msubsup><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo></mml:math>

Abstract

We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) quantum chromodynamics (QCD) correction to the total cross section for the reaction gg → tt + X. Together with the partonic channels we computed previously, the result derived in this Letter completes the set of NNLO QCD corrections to the total top pair-production cross section at hadron colliders. Supplementing the fixed order results with soft-gluon resummation with next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, we estimate that the theoretical uncertainty of this observable due to unknown higher order corrections is about 3% at the LHC and 2.2% at the Tevatron. We observe a good agreement between the standard model predictions and the available experimental measurements. The very high theoretical precision of this observable allows a new level of scrutiny in parton distribution functions and new physics searches.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Physical Review Letters, 2013 · DOI ↗