We report on the first calculation of next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the inclusive production of ZZ pairs at hadron colliders. Numerical results are presented for pp collisions with centre-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) ranging from 7 to 14 TeV. The NNLO corrections increase the NLO result by an amount varying from $11\%$ to $17\%$ as $\sqrt{s}$ goes from 7 to 14 TeV. The loop-induced gluon fusion contribution provides about $60\%$ of the total NNLO effect. When going from NLO to NNLO the scale uncertainties do not decrease and remain at the $\pm 3\%$ level.Comment: Reference added, version published on Physics Letters

Abstract:We compute the full set of two-loop Feynman integrals appearing in massless two-loop four-point functions with two off-shell legs with the same invariant mass. These integrals allow to determine the two-loop corrections to the amplitudes for vector boson pair production at hadron colliders, qq → V V , and thus to compute this process to next-tonext-to-leading order accuracy in QCD. The master integrals are derived using the method of differential equations, employing a canonical basis for the integrals. We obtain analytical results for all integrals, expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms. We optimize our results for numerical evaluation by employing functions which are real valued for physical scattering kinematics and allow for an immediate power series expansion.

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The two-loop QCD corrections to vector boson pair production at hadron colliders involve a new class of Feynman integrals: two-loop four-point functions with two off-shell external legs. We describe their reduction to a small set of master integrals by solving linear relations among them. We then use differential equations in the external invariants to compute all master integrals that are relevant to planar Feynman amplitudes. Our results are expressed analytically in terms of generalized harmonic polylogarithms. The calculation relies heavily on techniques that exploit the algebraic structure of these functions, which we describe in detail.

We study how collider data and electroweak precision observables affect the parameter space of models including a new dark force mediated by a massive U(1) gauge boson. It acquires mass via a Higgs mechanism in the dark sector which is connected to the Standard Model through kinetic mixing of the two U(1) gauge bosons and the Higgs potential.We assess the impact of the 7 TeV LHC and show that most of the parameter space of the model can be probed with an integrated luminosity of 15 fb −1 .