# Light-Pair Corrections to Small-Angle Bhabha Scattering in a Realistic Set-up at LEP

## Abstract

Light-pair corrections to small-angle Bhabha scattering have been computed in a realistic set-up for luminosity measurements at LEP. The effect of acollinearity and acoplanarity rejection criteria has been carefully analysed for typical calorimetric event selections. The magnitude of the correction, depending on the details of the considered set-up, is comparable with the present experimental error.

CERN-TH/99-116  FNT/T-99/06 

thanks: Supported by a Marie Curie fellowship (tmr-erbfmbict 971934)   

In the last years, many efforts were made to reduce the sources of theoretical error in the prediction of the small-angle Bhabha (hereafter SABH) scattering cross section, in order to match the increased experimental accuracy. The main results were achieved in the sector of the $`O(\alpha ^2L)`$ photonic corrections, by lowering the associated uncertainty to the $`0.03\%`$ level . Moreover, the uncertainty associated to the light-pair contribution was reduced  to the $`0.01\%`$ level. The ultimate result of these works was to lower the total theoretical error to the $`0.05\%`$ level for LEP1 energies, as it can be read from table 1 (see also refs. ). On the other hand, at present, the experimental error associated to luminosity measurements is below the $`0.05\%`$ level. Since the size of light-pair contributions is of the order of some $`0.01\%`$  and will depend, in general, on the event selection (hereafter ES), it is important to include the best available estimate for light-pair corrections. In particular, the presence of tight cuts, which select events with soft-pair emission, such as acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts, can significantly alter the light-pair correction.

At present, the theoretical error to SABH scattering, due to pair production, can be evaluated by approximate means, such as the Monte Carlo (hereafter MC) results based on $`t`$-channel approximation  or the analytical calculations in the quasi-collinear approximation , or by the MC calculation of ref. , which includes the exact QED four-fermion matrix element, two-loop virtual corrections according to ref. , initial-state radiation (hereafter ISR) in the collinear approximation, and realistic ES’s. In this note the light-pair contribution is studied in the presence of ES’s as realistic as possible by using the approach of ref. , to which the reader is addressed for any technical detail. Particular attention is payed to the OPAL ES , as a significant case study.

Before entering the details of the OPAL ES, it is worthwhile to consider a typical calorimetric ES, such as one of the CALO2 ES’s adopted in ref. . Apart from other technical features, it is characterized by an energy cut defined in terms of the kinematical variable $`z`$:

$$z1\frac{E_1E_2}{E_{\mathrm{beam}}^2}z_{\mathrm{max}},$$
(1)   
where $`E_{1,2}`$ are the energies of the two clusters of particles hitting the forward and backward calorimeters. The definition of the ES, involving angular and energy cuts only, is reported in the caption of fig. 1. Notice that small values of $`z`$ inhibit hard-pair emission, while large values do not. In fig. 1 the light-pair contribution to SABH scattering is shown as a function of $`z`$. As expected, the magnitude of the correction undergoes a significant variation by changing the $`z`$ value. In particular the correction grows in absolute value if the available phase-space region favours soft-pair radiation. This is the same behaviour as observed if one studies photon emission, instead of pair emission. It is worth noticing that the enhancement of the pair correction is valid within the $`t`$-channel approximation too. It is also important to stress that superimposing an acollinearity and acoplanarity cut means inhibiting hard radiation, so that such a cut can effectively mimic a cut on $`z`$, constraining it in the soft region. As an example, these cuts were superimposed on CALO2, by considering only the electron-pair contribution at the tree level. The results are shown in table 2 for asymmetric angular acceptances ($`3.49^{}\theta _\mathrm{N}6.11^{}`$ and $`2.97^{}\theta _\mathrm{W}6.73^{}`$) at $`\sqrt{s}=92.0\mathrm{GeV}`$ with acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts ($`\theta _{\mathrm{ac}}=0.58^{}`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{ap}}=11.46^{}`$). This exercise shows that the presence of acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts increases, in absolute value, the light-pair correction significantly, i.e. it has the same effect of lowering the $`z`$ cut.<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1With the given values of the acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts, the largely dominant effect is due to the acollinearity cut. This link can be easily understood since acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts select events with soft-pair radiation. It is worth noticing that the higher the value of $`z`$, the higher the relative enhancement of the correction with respect to the correction itself, as expected.

Let us now consider the more realistic OPAL case. The OPAL luminosity is measured with an experimental precision of $`0.034\%`$ , and similar performances are attained by the other collaborations. On the other hand, the light-pair correction is of the order of some $`0.01\%`$ and, moreover, it could be critically enhanced by tight acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts, as just shown in the CALO2 case (see table 2). It is thus crucial, for the luminosity measurements, to include a careful estimate of the pair corrections. The OPAL collaboration defines a reference theoretical cross section in terms of simple cuts at four-vector level on the generated particles . This rejection set-up, reviewed in table 3, is named M4SEL; it comes in three flavours SWITL, SWITR and SWITA, corresponding to whether the narrow cut in polar angle is applied to the left or the right hand calorimeter, or, in the case of SWITA, to the average of the polar angles measured on the right and left .

A complete calculation, performed with the MC code of ref. , including ISR via collinear structure functions and the muons contribution, gives the results shown in table 4, leading to a correction of $`0.044\%`$. Two comments are in order here. The first is that the pair correction is of the same order as the experimental error. The second is that the pair correction computed for an ES with similar angular and energy cuts, but without an acollinearity and acoplanarity cut, is at the level of $`0.025`$$`0.030\%`$ , i.e. smaller than the present prediction.

In this short discussion the relevance of taking into account the light-pair correction to SABH scattering for luminosity measurements at $`e^+e^{}`$ colliders is pointed out. This need is due to the high experimental accuracy now achieved by the LEP collaborations, better than the $`0.05\%`$ level. In particular the effects of acollinearity and acoplanarity cuts are analysed, and general arguments are given to understand why the presence of such rejection criteria increases the size of light-pair corrections. Moreover a realistic ES, the M4SEL adopted by the OPAL collaboration, has been implemented in a MC code to size the light-pair contribution to SABH scattering, leading to a correction for light pairs at the $`0.04\%`$ level.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank R. Kellogg and D. Strom, of the OPAL collaboration for several stimulating and fruitful discussions and for having provided the specifications of the OPAL reference ES of table 3.