$W$-boson production in association with a jet at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD

Abstract

We present the complete calculation of $W$-boson production in association with a jet in hadronic collisions through next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. To cancel infrared divergences we introduce a new subtraction method that exploits the fact that the $N$-jettiness event-shape variable fully captures the singularity structure of QCD amplitudes with final-state partons. This method holds for processes with an arbitrary number of jets, and is easily implemented into existing frameworks for higher-order calculations. We present initial phenomenological results for $W$+jet production at the LHC. The NNLO corrections are small and lead to a significantly reduced theoretical error, opening the door to precision measurements in the $W$+jet channel at the LHC.