We calculate, for the first time, the NNLO QCD corrections to identified heavy hadron production at hadron colliders. The calculation is based on a flexible numeric framework which allows the calculation of any distribution of a single identified heavy hadron plus jets and non-QCD particles. As a first application we provide NNLO QCD predictions for several differential distributions of B hadrons in t$$ \overline{t} $$ t ¯ events at the LHC. Among others, these predictions are needed for the precise determination of the top quark mass. The extension of our results to other processes, like open or associated B and charm production is straightforward. We also explore the prospects for extracting heavy flavor fragmentation functions from LHC data.

In this work we derive three sets of non-perturbative fragmentation functions, with uncertainties, for B-hadrons, J/ψ's and muons resulting from semileptonic B decays. All three sets are with next-to-next-to leading order accuracy and include next-to-next-to leading logarithmic soft gluon resummation. The novel feature of these new sets is that they are fully consistent with our formalism for next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) calculations for final states with identified B, J/ψ or a µ. We employ the fragmentation functions derived in this work to make state of the art predictions for such final states in t t events at the LHC. A special emphasis is placed on observables sensitive to the top quark mass. The present work opens the door for many LHC applications, like, open B production or B production in association with bosons.

In this work we derive three sets of non-perturbative fragmentation functions, with uncertainties, for B-hadrons, J/ψ’s and muons resulting from semileptonic B decays. All three sets are with next-to-next-to leading order accuracy and include next-to-next-to leading logarithmic soft gluon resummation. The novel feature of these new sets is that they are fully consistent with our formalism for next-to-next-to leading order (NNLO) calculations for final states with identified B, J/ψ or a μ. We employ the fragmentation functions derived in this work to make state of the art predictions for such final states in $$ t\overline{t} $$ t t ¯ events at the LHC. A special emphasis is placed on observables sensitive to the top quark mass. The present work opens the door for many LHC applications, like, open B production or B production in association with bosons.

We compute the fragmentation functions for the production of a Higgs boson at $$ \mathcal{O} $$ O ($$ {y}_t^2 $$ y t 2 αs). As part of this calculation, the relevant splitting functions are also derived at the same perturbative order. Our results can be used to compute differential cross sections with arbitrary top-quark and Higgs-boson masses from massless calculations. They can also be used to resum logarithms of the form ln(pT/m) at large transverse momentum pT to next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy by solving the DGLAP equations.