Electroweak corrections to W\gamma and Z\gamma production at the LHC

Abstract

We have calculated the electroweak O(\alpha) corrections to the processes p p -> Z \gamma + X -> \nu_l \bar{\nu}_l \gamma + X, p p -> Z \gamma + X -> l \bar{l} \gamma + X, and p p -> W \gamma + X -> \nu_l \bar{l} \gamma + X at the LHC, with l=e,\mu and \nu_l=\nu_e,\nu_\mu,\nu_\tau. The virtual corrections are evaluated in leading-pole approximation, whereas the real corrections are taken into account exactly. These corrections are implemented into a Monte Carlo generator which includes both phase-space slicing and subtraction to deal with soft and collinear singularities. We present numerical results for total cross sections as well as for experimentally interesting distributions. Applying typical LHC cuts, the electroweak corrections are of the order of -5% for the total cross sections and exceed -20% for observables dominated by high centre-of-mass energies of the partonic processes.