Nuclear Physics B262 (1985) 235-262

© North-Holland Publishing Company

SPINOR TECHNIQUES FOR CALCULATING p$~W±/Z°+JETS

R. KLEISS and W.J. STIRLING

CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Received 17 June 1985

We present techniques which enable one to calculate quickly the amplitudes for many scattering
processes in the high-energy limit. As an illustration of the method, these are applied to the diagrams
for pDoV+0, 1 or 2 jets, where V= W± or Z°. The form of the results lends itself to immediate
numerical evaluation.

I. Introduction

This p a p e r d e a l s with c o m p l i c a t e d tree-level a m p l i t u d e s for h i g h - e n e r g y scattering

p r o c e s s e s in the f r a m e w o r k o f the s t a n d a r d theories o f e l e c t r o w e a k a n d strong
i n t e r a c t i o n s ; in p a r t i c u l a r we discuss how to e v a l u a t e such a m p l i t u d e s . T h e motiva-
t i o n for this is as follows. In the first p l a c e , as o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f the g a u g e
t h e o r i e s d e s c r i b i n g the i n t e r a c t i o n s d e v e l o p s , we will have to calculate ever h i g h e r
o r d e r s in the p e r t u r b a t i o n series in o r d e r to refine the t h e o r e t i c a l p r e d i c t i o n s . A p a r t
from m u l t i - l o o p c o n t r i b u t i o n s , h i g h - o r d e r tree g r a p h s t h e n c o m e into play. The
e v a l u a t i o n o f such d i a g r a m s b y " s t a n d a r d a l g e b r a i c t e c h n i q u e s " , a l t h o u g h straight-
f o r w a r d , b e c o m e s i m p r a c t i c a l w h e n b o t h the n u m b e r o f e x t e r n a l lines a n d the
n u m b e r o f d i a g r a m s i n v o l v e d b e c o m e large. T h e r e will be an i n c r e a s i n g n e e d for
m e t h o d s w h i c h m a k e it e a s i e r to o b t a i n f r o m the d i a g r a m s a value for the cross
section. ( T h r o u g h o u t this p a p e r we shall use the term " c r o s s s e c t i o n " for the a b s o l u t e
value s q u a r e d o f the a m p l i t u d e , s u m m e d a n d a v e r a g e d over spins a n d c o l o u r s in
s o m e a p p r o p r i a t e m a n n e r , b u t without a n y integral over the p h a s e s p a c e m o m e n t a . )
In the s e c o n d p l a c e a n u m b e r o f p r o c e s s e s for which the cross section is best
e v a l u a t e d b y such " n o v e l " t e c h n i q u e s has a l r e a d y b e c o m e observable. E x a m p l e s
are the p r o d u c t i o n o f m u l t i l e p t o n states (such as e+e+e e - , e+e-/z+/z - ) in e ' e -
scattering [1], multijet p r o d u c t i o n in b o t h e+e - a n d p p i n t e r a c t i o n s , a n d the p r o d u c -
tion o f W a n d Z b o s o n s in c o n c u r r e n c e with jets at the C E R N pg) c o l l i d e r [2]. It
is this last p r o c e s s which we will discuss in s o m e detail.
T h e o u t l i n e o f the p a p e r is as follows. In sect. 2 we argue that the " s t a n d a r d "
w a y o f c a l c u l a t i n g cross sections has to be m o d i f i e d in o r d e r to m a k e c o m p l i c a t e d
sets o f F e y n m a n d i a g r a m s a m e n a b l e to e v a l u a t i o n , a n d we e n u m e r a t e the v a r i o u s
i n g r e d i e n t s that go into o u r a l t e r n a t i v e a p p r o a c h . These c o m p r i s e : a p a r t i c u l a r
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f the s p i n o r s d e s c r i b i n g massless f e r m i o n s (from w h i c h follow s o m e
identities for s p i n o r i a l q u a n t i t i e s by w h i c h we can rewrite a n d s i m p l i f y d i a g r a m s ) ;
235
236 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ ~ W ± + j e t s

a representation for the polarization vectors of spin-1 particles, both massive (W ~, Z °)

and massless (photon, gluon); and, finally, a representation of the spinors for massive
fermions such as top quarks. These various points will be discussed in sects. 3
through 6.
In sects. 7 and 8 we apply the techniques developed to an actual non-trivial
calculation: that of the parton-level diagrams which contribute to pO ~ V + 0, 1, or
2 jets (in this paper, V will denote a W ~ or Z ° boson). Apart from providing an
illustration of our method, these processes are of sufficient physical interest to make
knowledge of the exact cross section important. The formulae presented here form
the basis of numerical programs the results of which have already been discussed
extensively. In this p a p e r therefore we shall limit ourselves to describing the Feynman
diagrams and to deriving the numerical expressions corresponding to them. We
refer to a later publication for the complete enumeration of the 396 processes
contributing to a V+ (0, 1, 2) jet final state. Finally, the appendix contains the proofs
of the statements that underlie our technique. Included for completeness, these can
also serve as illustrations for those readers who wish to make themselves familiar
with our method.

2. The need for amplitude-level calculations

In this section we discuss the evaluation of tree amplitudes, in particular those

involving electroweak interactions. These usually consist of one or more spinor
sandwiches contracted with each other by boson propagators. External on-shell
vector particles are represented by their polarization vectors.
After writing down the Feynman diagrams corresponding to a given amplitude
M one usually proceeds to derive an analytic expression for the cross section ~ IMI 2,
with an appropriate spin a n d / o r colour sum or average. The result, which is usually
a function of Minkowski products of the particle four-momenta, is then evaluated
numerically at phase-space points in the region of interest.
The derivation of the cross section formula is facilitated by two important
considerations. First, the polarization vectors e" of external spin-I particles can be
summed covariantly. For a heavy vector boson with mass m and m o m e n t u m q"
this results in the spin sum

}~ e~e * ~ = - g ~ v + q ~ q ' / m 2 , (2.1)

while for a photon with m o m e n t u m k" we have in the axial gauge:

~, e"e * ~ = - g ~ v + [ p ~ k ~ + k ~ p v ] / ( p • k), (2.2)

where p " is some four-vector different from k ". Second, a product of spinor
sandwiches can be rewritten as a trace over a string of Dirac matrices, using spinor
projection operators. For a massive spin-½ particle with mass m and m o m e n t u m p~
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ ~ W ± +jets 237

we have the spin sum

u ( p ) a ( p ) = l~± m , (2.3)
where the sign is + ( - ) for a particle (antiparticle). For a massless fermion* with
m o m e n t u m p " and helicity A = ± 1, we have
u~(p)a~(p)=w~g, wA =~(1 + A T ' ) . (2.4)
We have given these well-known expressions explicitly because we shall refer to
them in what follows.
The above approach has many attractive features. The unobserved spins and
polarizations do not occur in the final result; also the arbitrary overall complex
phases of the spinors and polarization vectors cancel. The algebraic evaluation of
the trace expressions is straightforward and can be performed for any amplitude,
given enough computing capacity [3].
It is this last condition which limits the complexity of the problems that can be
handled. Since we have to square the amplitude before we can use eqs. (2.1)-(2.4)
both the n u m b e r of traces and their length increases very rapidly with the order of
perturbation theory. It is usually very hard to keep the calculation systematic and
reasonably compact at the same time, even if the final result turns out to be simple**.
Consequently, it is easy to make errors that are hard to trace. Moreover, in many
cases the expressions are so large as to defy a good analytical understanding of
them apart from the crudest features***.
It is clear that any method which evaluates M instead of ~ ]MI 2 will eventually
become superior to the standard approach. Indeed, several authors have stressed
this point and proposed alternatives [7-12]. These approaches, and their relationship
to the one under discussion, will be reviewed elsewhere.
In the evaluation procedure sketched above, the cross section is considered
" k n o w n " when the Feynman diagrams have been reduced to an expression in terms
of four-vector products. This is based on the fact that these products are familiar
objects with well-known properties, and are moreover linear in the momenta. Of
course the diagrams themselves, and the unevaluated trace expressions, are also
well-defined objects, but they have much less physical appeal. Moreover, the spinors
at the edges of the sandwiches are only proportional to the square root of the
m o m e n t u m (for zero mass), as follows from eq. (2.4). It is therefore generally
impossible to rewrite even a simple spinor sandwich in terms of the familiar vector
products.
We want to argue that it is useful to employ in the evaluation of the amplitude
not vector products like P1"P2 but rather spinor products like ~(pOu(p2). These
* W e shall u s e the t e r m " f e r m i o n " a n d the s y m b o l u f o r b o t h p a r t f c l e s a n d a n t i p a r t i c l e s , unless s t a t e d
otherwise.
** T h e results p r e s e n t e d in ref. [4] a r e very s i m p l e b u t w e r e a r r i v e d at in a n e x t r e m e l y t o r t u o u s w a y ;
see ref. [5].
***See, f o r i n s t a n c e , the as yet u n e x p l a i n e d results o f ref. [6].
238 R. Kleiss, W.J. Slirling / pp ~ W ~-+ j e t s

objects are sufficiently simple to become "familiar", at least to those who follow
the present discussion. Because of their more suitable dependence on the momentum
arguments it is very easy to write a Feynman graph in terms of these products. They
are more fundamental to calculations involving spinors than are vector products in
the sense that vector products are easily obtained from spinor products [cf. eq.
(3.12)], but not vice versa.
Of course, just the introduction of the concept of spinor products does not in
itself guarantee that a calculational approach is leasable. We have to find a form
for the spinor products in terms of the momentum components which must not,
from a computational point of view, be much more complicated than the simple
form of the Minkowski product of two four-vectors. Moreover, in the standard
approach unobserved spins are neatly summed over, but on the amplitude level this
is not the case, and we have to take into account explicitly polarized states. For
massless fermions the most expedient of these are helicity states. For massive
fermions we cannot define the helicity in a covariant way, and so another choice
of the spin vector will be described. For massless gauge bosons, i.e. photons and
gluons, we shall use polarization vectors related to those introduced by the C A L K U L
collaboration [4, 5, 13], which express the polarization covariantly in terms of the
particle momenta, thus avoiding the introduction of yet another four-vector into
the problem. For massive gauge bosons (i.e. W ± and Z °) the most straightforward
generalization of the massless case is not very useful. Instead, we shall use a form
which apart from giving simple expressions in terms of spinor products also allows
a direct physical interpretation in terms of the decay of these massive particles.
Finally, one other problem has to be overcome. In general the spinor sandwiches
in a given amplitude are not scalars, but contain "free" Lorentz indices contracted
not with a momentum but with a free Lorentz index of another sandwich. We must
have methods for manipulating such expressions so that the free indices disappear
and scalar sandwiches remain. Such methods as have been developed to this end
[13, 14] are seen to arise naturally from our treatment of the spinors, which we
present in the next section.

3. Spinor phases and spinor products

In this section we derive expressions for the spinor products. These are essentially
the same as those used in ref. [1], the only difference being in the connection between
the positive- and negative-helicity states. In this section we shall only consider
massless fermions; massive fermions are discussed in sect. 6.
We begin the discussion by setting up a convention for the overall complex phase
of the spinors. As remarked before these are arbitrary, and we propose to choose
them in the following way. Let us choose two four-vectors k~ and k~ with the
following properties:
ko" ko=O, kl" kl = - 1 , ko" kl=O. (3.1)
 R, Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p ~ W±+jets 239

Next we define one basic spinor u (ko) up to its complex phase by specifying the
corresponding dyadic projection operator:
u_(ko)O_(ko) = w-,/(o, (3.2)
with w_ as in eq. (2.4). The object u_(ko) is therefore the negative-helicity state of
a massless fermion with momentum ko. The corresponding positive-helicity state
we now choose to be
u+(ko) = X'lu-(ko), (3.3)
which also satisfies eq. (2.4) because of (3.1). From these two spinors we can
construct spinors for any other lightlike momentum p as follows:
uA ( p ) = Pu-A ( k o ) / , / 2 p " ko. (3.4)
Again, spinors defined this way satisfy eq. (2.4). The only restriction on the applica-
bility of (3.4) is that p . k0 must be non-zero, and (for purposes of computer
evaluation) not extremely small. In actual calculations we shall choose ko to be
appreciably different from all particle momenta in the problem: this is easy if there
is not an overwhelming number of momenta involved.
Using eqs. (3.1) to (3.4) we can derive some useful identities for spinor sandwiches,
which we shall use in the following. Let F be an arbitrary string of y matrices, and
let F R be the same string in reversed order. We then have, for arbitrary (lightlike)
momenta and helicities:
O;,,(p,)ru~,2(p2) = A,A2fi_a~(p2)rRu ;,,(p,) . (3.5)
This is the equivalent of the "line-reversal" trick of ref. [12]. Since eqs. (3.3) and
(3.4) in fact only establish a particular relation between the complex phases of
positive- and negative-helicity spinors, an identity like (3.5) always holds, with some
complex phase instead of A1A2. It is the fact that in our case this phase factor is
simply :el (depending only on the helicities) which makes eq. (3.5) so useful in
practice. With it, we can relate different helicity amplitudes to each other. The
second useful identity reads
{ fi,~ (pl)y~u;, (p2)}y~ = 2u;,(p2)ftA ( p , ) + 2u_;, (p,)fi_,~ (p2) , (3.6)
which is in fact the so-called Chisholm identity. With the help of eqs. (3.5) and
(3.6), which are proved in the appendix, we can reduce many amplitudes to
expressions involving only spinor products. We given one example. Let p~ • • • P7 be
lightlike momenta. Then,

a+(pl)'y~u+(p2) . a+(p3),yu, ff4"y~,u+(ps) • u+(p6)y"u+(pT)

= 4a+(p3)[u+(p2)a+(pl) + u ( p l ) u - ( p 2 ) ] g 4 [ u + ( p v ) a + ( p 6 )
+ u (p6)ff-(pT)]u+(ps)
= 4[a+(p3)u_(pO][a_(p2)u+(p4)][a+(p4)u_(p6)][a (pT)u+(ps)].
(3.7)
240 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ ~ W ± + j e t s

Here we have u s e d the fact t h a t we can write P4 as a s u m o f the two p r o j e c t i o n s

u+(p4)fi+(p4) a n d u_(p4)fl-(p4), one o f w h i c h gives zero b e c a u s e o f its helicity
structure.
We n o w p r o c e e d to discuss the s p i n o r p r o d u c t s themselves. F o r massless f e r m i o n s
with m o m e n t a Pl a n d P2 t h e r e are two n o n - z e r o p r o d u c t s :

s(p~, P2) =--u+(pl)u-(p2) = --s(p2, P O ,

t( pl, P2) =--ft-( POu+ ( P2) = [s(p2, P 0 ] * - (3.8)

It is e n o u g h to derive an e x p r e s s i o n for s(p~, P2). D u e to the definitions (3.2) to

(3,4), we can i m m e d i a t e l y e v a l u a t e s(pl, Pc) as a trace:

s( p~, P2) = a_( ko)l~P2u+( ko)/X/4( p, • ko)( p2 " ko)

= Tr (to Xol~1~2X~)/x/4(p~" ko)(p2" ko)

= [ ( P ~ " ko)(p2" k O - ( p ~ " k 0 ( p 2 " ko)

_
te~vp,~ko k, p, p~]/~/4(p,
- /~ v p ,

ko)(p2 " ko) .

(3.9)

The last line in this e q u a t i o n is in itself n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y simple. H o w e v e r , in an

actual c o m p u t a t i o n we c a n specify k~ a n d k~ so that the form o f s(p~, P2) b e c o m e s
quite c o m p a c t . Let us take, for instance:
p~ = (pO, PT, P~, pZ) ,

k~ = ( 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 ) ,

k~' = (0, 0, 1, 0 ) . (3.10)

This results in
• ~.l-p°-p~-I ,:~ . ~.l-p°-plq ,:~
sfp,, p23 = (p;+ 'P')Lp~-p~] -(p~+,p2)[_~] (3.11)

a n d t(p~, P2) is o b t a i n e d b y c o m p l e x c o n j u g a t i o n * . A n e x p r e s s i o n like this is s i m p l e

to p r o g r a m a n d n o t m u c h m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d to e v a l u a t e t h a n a v e c t o r p r o d u c t like
Pl'P2. In fact w h e n we h a v e c a l c u l a t e d the s p i n o r p r o d u c t we i m m e d i a t e l y have
the vector p r o d u c t as well:

d(p~, P2) ~ 2 p l . t92 = Is(pl, p2)[ 2 . (3.12)

As r e m a r k e d b e f o r e , in this sense the s p i n o r p r o d u c t s are m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l t h a n

the vector p r o d u c t s .
W e finish this section with s o m e r e m a r k s on the c o m p u t a t i o n a l aspects o f o u r
a p p r o a c h . T h e p r o d u c t s s(pi, ps) can be r e g a r d e d not only as f u n c t i o n s o f the
m o m e n t a p~, pj b u t (as s o o n as they have b e e n c a l c u l a t e d for a set o f m o m e n t a
• We use the m e t r i c (+, - , - , - ) a n d the L e v i - C i v i t a t e n s o r Cot23 = +1. Eqs. (3.10) a n d (3.11) also hold
u n d e r cyclic p e r m u t a t i o n o f the c o o r d i n a t e s x, y a n d z.
 R. Kleiss, W..I. Stiffing / p O~ W±+jets 241

Pl, P2 . . . . , p , ) also as a n × n m a t r i x with entries i, j. The c a l c u l a t i o n o f an a m p l i t u d e

will thus start with the e v a l u a t i o n o f the n × n matrices s, t a n d d. F r o m then on
the f o u r - v e c t o r s Pi can be r e g a r d e d as j u s t so m a n y integer labels. The rest o f the
c a l c u l a t i o n o f the d i a g r a m s will involve o n l y s i m p l e m u l t i p l i c a t i o n a n d a d d i t i o n o f
the e l e m e n t s o f s, t a n d d.
A n o t h e r r e m a r k c o n c e r n s the n u m e r i c a l stability o f o u r a p p r o a c h . In e l e c t r o w e a k
a n d Q C D p r o c e s s e s cross sections can exhibit quite drastic c a n c e l l a t i o n s w h e n two
o r m o r e massless m o m e n t a b e c o m e collinear. In such cases it is u s u a l l y better to
c o m p u t e M i n s t e a d o f Y~[MI 2 b e c a u s e the c a n c e l l a t i o n s will then t a k e p l a c e over
less o r d e r s o f m a g n i t u d e . M o r e o v e r the e v a l u a t i o n o f s ( p l , P2) is itself n u m e r i c a l l y
quite stable w h e n p~ a n d p2 b e c o m e collinear, b e c a u s e o f the explicit a n t i s y m m e t r i z -
a t i o n in eq. (3.11). I n d e e d it is u s u a l l y safer to e m p l o y eq. (3.12) to o b t a i n p~ • P2
than the s t a n d a r d f o r m u l a p O p O _ p ~ . P2, for a l m o s t c o l l i n e a r lightlike m o m e n t a .
This c o m p l e t e s o u r d i s c u s s i o n on s p i n o r m a n i p u l a t i o n s . At this stage we are able
to s i m p l i f y a n d e v a l u a t e d i a g r a m s with o n l y massless external fermions*. In the
next two sections we shall d e s c r i b e h o w to treat the case w h e r e i n c o m i n g o r o u t g o i n g
vector p a r t i c l e s also occur.

4. Polarizations for massless gauge bosons

We shall n o w e x p l a i n h o w to m a k e the p o l a r i z a t i o n vectors o f e x t e r n a l p h o t o n s * *

a m e n a b l e to e v a l u a t i o n b y the s p i n o r t e c h n i q u e s d e s c r i b e d in sect. 3. Since we shall
c o n s t r u c t p h y s i c a l , t r a n s v e r s e p o l a r i z a t i o n s , the c a l c u l a t i o n o f ~ [M[ 2 will not require
the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f ghost terms to cancel the s p u r i o u s degrees o f f r e e d o m .
We shall c o n s i d e r p o l a r i z a t i o n vectors c o r r e s p o n d i n g to states o f definite helicity,
d e n o t e d b y e~ a n d satisfying

eA • k = O, eA • e~ = 0 ,

~ _ ~ : (~A~) * , ~ . ~_A : - 1 , (4.1)

w h e r e k ~" is the p h o t o n m o m e n t u m , a n d a g a i n A = :el. A n y objects e~ o b e y i n g the

relations (4.1) m a k e an a c c e p t a b l e choice for the p o l a r i z a t i o n . We use the following:

e~,u = NaA ( k ) y~'u, ( p ) ,

N=[4(p.k)] 1/2, (4.2)

w h e r e p " is a n y lightlike v e c t o r not c o l l i n e a r to k ~ or k~. In the a p p e n d i x we p r o v e

that the c h o i c e (4.2) i n d e e d satisfies the a b o v e c o n d i t i o n s ; m o r e o v e r , the p o l a r i s a t i o n
sum is s h o w n to be p r e c i s e l y o f the form (2.2). It is u s u a l l y s i m p l e s t to c h o o s e for
p " one o f the o t h e r m o m e n t a o c c u r r i n g in the p r o b l e m . As was first p r o v e d in ref.
[13], two different choices for p " result in p o l a r i z a t i o n vectors differing by at most
• An example of this is the treatment ofe+e -->e+e+e-e- in ref. [1].
• * In this section "'photon" stands for any massless spin-1 particle.
242 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pff ~ W ~ + j e t s

a gauge transformation and a complex phase. The precise interrelation is given in

the appendix. In practice we can use this freedom of choice to optimize the
calculation: we shall come back to this point in our discussion of the amplitudes
for p~--> V+jets.
It is evident that eq. (4.2) can be applied to calculate amplitudes with external
photons, using the spinor products of the previous section. Before concluding this
section we wish to comment on the relation between eq. (4.2) and the polarization
conventions used by the C A L K U L collaboration in refs. [4, 5, 13]. There, two
lightlike four-vectors p~, p~ are used to define the polarization. The object e'+, for
instance, is
,E'+ OC 0.) + ffl ~(2.J~ -- (-0 . ~ ' 1 ~/~2 • (4.3)
Actually the right-hand side of (4.3) contains not only a part proportional to y"
but also terms proportional to ySy~. It is obtained from a purely vectorial expression
by assuming that not only the vector current but also the axial-vector current is
conserved:
to+ ffl ~2,k~-k to_,k"/~2~l = to+ffl p2,k/-to_ ],('ffli~2q-2(pl, p2)o)_,k/, (4.4)
where the last term is dropped under the above assumption. This is only really
justified for abelian interactions such as Q E D [15]. The left-hand side of eq. (4.4)
can be rewritten as follows:

w+/~g2.K+ o)_Jg'g'2/~ = [u+(pl)a+(k) + u_(k)fi_(pO]s(p~, p2)t(p2, k). (4.5)

The relation between the C A L K U L convention and our representation is now clear:
the term in brackets on the r.h.s, of eq. (4.5) is just what we expect for e'+ on the
basis of eq. (4.2). The vector p~* is seen to just introduce yet another complex phase
into the polarization. The spectacularly simple results for the single bremsstrahlung
cross sections reported in refs. [4, 5, 13] are in fact realized by the replacement in
eq. (4.4), leading to a considerable simplification of diagrams where Pl.2 are the
external m o m e n t a in the fermion line which emits the bremsstrahlung.

5. Polarizations for massive gauge bosons

We now discuss how to obtain expressions like (4.2) for the case of massive
external bosons*. These have an additional longitudinally polarized state, so that
the equivalent of eq. (4,1) becomes, for a boson with m o m e n t u m q~ and mass m,

ca' q = e 0 " q = 0 , ca" e ~ = e o " e ~ = 0 ,

e_~ ~ = ( ~ ) * , e ~ . e_~ = ~o" e o - - - 1 . (5.1)

Again, e~ denotes the helicity combination of the transversely polarized states, and
e~" is the longitudinally polarized one.
* I n this s e c t i o n , " b o s o n " s t a n d s for a n y m a s s i v e spin-1 p a r t i c l e .
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~6-~ W ± +jets 243

As a first try, one might take some form like (4.2) to serve as the polarization
vector. However, this turns out to be not so expedient. The problem is that for a
timelike m o m e n t u m q~" we need both spinors u(q) and antispinors v(q) neither o f
which can be assigned a definite helicity in a covariant way. The techniques o f sect.
3 can be generalized to handle this (see the following section) but the simplicity o f
the a p p r o a c h o f sect. 4 is then lost.
We prefer instead to base our polarization convention on the following reasoning.
Since we are at this m o m e n t not concerned with the b o s o n polarization itself but
only with the cross section for unpolarized bosons, we really have as the only
requirement on the eo.,~' that their spin sum should be eq. (2.1). A n y way by which
we arrive at that expression gives us an acceptable polarization representation. We
therefore p r o c e e d as follows. Let r~', r~ be two lightlike four-vectors that together
make up q~:
2 2
rl=r2=0, r~+r~=q ~ . (5.2)

We now introduce the object

a u = ~_(rt)y~u_(r2), (5.3)
which we shall use, after p r o p e r normalization, as the polarization vector belonging
to qU. O f course there are as m a n y possible choices for r~.2 as there are different
spatial directions in the rest frame o f q~. Hence we replace the spin sum over e~'s *"
in eq. (2.1) by an integral over this solid angle. The result is o f the desired form:

f dS2 a"a*"= f dS? Tr(w_~',V~&~, ")

- grt,,, ~-~ + q~'q'/mZ). (5.4)

This implies that we will arrive at the correct result for the cross section if we make
the following replacements for outgoing bosons:

e~e, . 3 f dO a~a *'. (5.5)

-8-rrm
--~

This representation fits perfectly in our m e t h o d o f evaluating the amplitude since

it contains only the lightlike four-vectors r~ and r~. In order to obtain the cross
section we have to p e r f o r m an additional two-dimensional integral, but since the
accuracy o f Monte Carlo integration does not d e p e n d on the dimensionality of the
integrand but only on its variance [16], no accuracy will be lost as long as the
d e p e n d e n c e on f2 is not extremely strong, implying huge polarization effects.
Up to this point we have treated r~, r~ and a ~ as purely mathematical artefacts.
It turns out that we can give them an extremely interesting and useful interpretation.
To this end, let us consider the case o f W - emission. In the actual production
244 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ --> W ± + j e t s

p r o c e s s the W - is not a free particle, b u t d e c a y s i m m e d i a t e l y into, say, an e l e c t r o n

a n d an a n t i n e u t r i n o . T h e r e f o r e the p h y s i c a l o u t g o i n g state t h a t s h o u l d enter into a
realistic c a l c u l a t i o n is n o t the p o l a r i z a t i o n v e c t o r o f the W - , b u t its r e s o n a n t
p r o p a g a t o r * c o u p l e d to the current d e s c r i b i n g the d e c a y W - - ~ e-Pe:

j ~ = igwt~_(pe)(1 + Ts)'y~v_(p~), (5.6)

where p~(p~) is the e l e c t r o n ( a n t i n e u t r i n o ) m o m e n t u m , a n d gw the c o u p l i n g constant.

C o m p a r i n g eqs. (5.3) a n d (5.6) we can i d e n t i f y r~ with p~ a n d r~ with p~. The
a n g u l a r integral in (5.4) relates to the fact that the W - can be c o n s i d e r e d u n p o l a r i z e d
as long as we d o n o t s t u d y its d e c a y in a n y detail. T h u s o u r t r e a t m e n t o f the b o s o n
p o l a r i z a t i o n gives us, as a s o m e w h a t s u r p r i s i n g b o n u s , all the c o r r e l a t i o n s o f the
d e c a y p r o d u c t s w i t h o u t a n y extra w o r k at all! In the " s t a n d a r d " a p p r o a c h to
c a l c u l a t i n g the cross section, such a d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n can o n l y be h a d with a
c o n s i d e r a b l e increase in c o m p u t a t i o n a l effort.
Some final r e m a r k s s h o u l d be m a d e here. In the case o f W + p r o d u c t i o n we have
to i d e n t i f y r~ with the n e u t r i n o m o m e n t u m , a n d r~ with the p o s i t r o n m o m e n t u m .
F o r Z ° b o s o n s the i d e n t i f i c a t i o n is less trivial. F o r Z ° ( q ) ~ e + ( p + ) e - ( p _ ) the d e c a y
current is

j~(A) = ia,(p_)(gv+gATS)T~vA(p+), (5.7)

in w h i c h the e ± can o c c u r with b o t h + a n d - helicity b e c a u s e the current is not

p u r e l y V ± A. F o r negative helicity we have

j~(--)=i(gv+gA)u-(p )y~'V (p+), (5.8a)

while for positive helicity we use eq. (3.5) to o b t a i n

j~(+)= i(gv--gA)~-(p+)y"u (p ). (5.8b)

In the cross section these two helicity c o n f i g u r a t i o n s have to be s u m m e d over

i n c o h e r e n t l y . In a s a m p l e o f M o n t e C a r l o events we can t h e r e f o r e m a k e the following
identifications:

p"_ = r ~ , p~ -- r~ in a f r a c t i o n F o f the e v e n t s ,

p~ = r ~ , p"+ = r~ in a f r a c t i o n 1 - F o f the e v e n t s ,

F = (gv+ gA)2/[(gv+ g A ) 2 q - (gv - gA)2] • (5.9)

A n a l g o r i t h m like this is e x t r e m e l y w e l l - s u i t e d to i m p l e m e n t a t i o n in M o n t e C a r l o
i n t e g r a t i o n s a n d event g e n e r a t o r s . O f course w h e n we do n o t d i s c r i m i n a t e b e t w e e n
e ÷ a n d e - we m a y m a k e either o f the two identifications.
• The propagator can either be taken in the peaking approximation or included exactly, if one assumes
that the decay under consideration saturates the decay width (see appendix).
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p p ~ W± +jets 245

6. Spinors for massive fermions

All fermions that we have considered up to now have been massless. For many
purposes this is quite sufficient: at C E R N collider energies the mass of even the
b-quark can be considered very small. The zero-mass approximation breaks down
in the case of top quarks with a putative mass of around 40 GeV [17]. Clearly, in
neglecting masses of this kind we would be making serious errors not only in the
calculation of ~ ]M[ 2 but also in the scattering kinematics. We therefore describe
in this section how to treat massive fermions.
Our procedure will be similar to that of the previous section: we construct a
spinorial object which leads to the correct spin sum, namely eq. (2.3). Our starting
point is the following. For any lightlike four-vector k", the object

u(q, s) = ( q + m ) u ( k ) / ~ / ~ q . k) (6.1)
is a good spinor for a massive fermion (not antifermion) with momentum q" and
mass m, i.e. we can find a unique spin vector s" such that the Dirac equations
hold*. The p r o o f of this statement, and the form of s ~ are given in the appendix.
Note that in the limit m ~ 0 we recover eq. (3.4). We now make a choice for kC As
before we choose two lightlike momenta that build up q~:
p~=p~=O, p ~ + p ~ = q~'. (6.2)
Choosing p~ for k" and inserting in eq. (6.1), gives

u( q, s) = l ( / ~ , +/~2+ m)u_(p2)
m

s ( p b p2)
u + ( p l ) q- U - ( p 2 ) • (6.3)
m

Since Is(p~, P2)I = m, the coefficient of u+(pt) is just a complex phase. The result
for s ~ in the appendix gives for this choice:

s ~ = (p~ - p ~ ) / m . (6.4)
In this way we have an expression for the massive-fermion spinor as a linear
combination of two massless-fermion spinors with opposite helicities. By making
the appropriate changes in eqs. (6.1) through (6.3), we find the complete set of
definitions for massive (anti-) fermions:
u(q, +s) = [s(pl, P2)/m]u+(pl) + u - ( p 2 ) ,
u(q, - s ) = [ t(pl , pz)/ m ] u _ ( p 0 + u+(p2) ,
v(q, +s) = I s ( p , , p 2 ) / m ] u + ( p , ) - u - ( p 2 ) ,
v(q, - s ) = [t(pl, p 2 ) / m ] u (Pl) - u+(p2). (6.5)
• In refs. [18] and [19], this formula was used to calculate e + e - ~ e+e+e e- keeping the complete mass
dependence.
246 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stifling / p~ -~ W ± + j e t s

It goes without saying that we can easily implement these definitions into our
approach. As an illustration, we calculate the weak current involved in the decay
W+-~ t(qt)b(qb). It reads, with A = ±1:
j~v(h) = igwfi(qt, As)(1 + Vs)'y~'u_(qb) , (6.6)
where we have neglected the b-quark mass as stated above. Now both polarization
states of the t-quark give a non-zero result. We have, with Pl,2
~' as before,
j~( + ) -=2igw~_( pz) yJ'u_( qb) ,
j~(--) = 2igwa_(pOy'~u_( qb) • [ t(p~, pz)/m]* . (6.7)
These currents can be treated in the standard way. Moreover, we may drop the
complex phase factor t*/m in j~v(-) since it does not occur in the cross section.
The simplicity of the result (6.7) is due to the fact that the V - A structure of the
charged current will always pick out only one of the two terms in eq. (6.5). If the
current is not purely V i A the situation is somewhat more complicated. Consider
the decay Z°-~t(q)~(q ') for which the current is given by
./t
)z(A, At ) = i~(q, ,ks)(gv+gAys)y"v(q ', A'S'), (6.8)
where the primed quantities refer to the antiquark, the unprimed ones to the quark.
In the four polarization cases, eq. (6.8) goes over into
j~( +, +) = i ( g v - gA)[t(p2, pl)s( p'I, p'2)/ m2]a+(p~) yUu+( p'~)
- i ( g v + gA)fi-(p2)Y"u-(p'2),
j~( +, --) = --i(gv-- gA)[ t( p2, p~)/ rn ]a+( p,)7"u+( p~) + i(gv+ gA)[ t( p~, p~) / m ]
X a_(pz)7"u_(p~),
j~(--, +) = -- i(gv + gA)[S( P2, Pl)/ m] fi_( Pl) y"u_( P'2) + i(gv - gA)[S(p'~, p'2)/ m]
X a+(pz)7'~u+(p'l),
j~(--, --) = i(gv+ gA)[S(p2, p~)t(p~, p;)/m2]a_(pl)yOu_(p~)
- i ( g v - gA) a.(P2)7"u+(P'2). (6.9)
To obtain the cross section we have to calculate ]M[ 2 for the four different polarization
cases, each amplitude consisting of two terms. This may again be simplified somewhat
by a reasoning similar to that in sect. 5. Upon interchange of p~' and p [ , spinors
for the two opposite polarization states transform into each other modulo a complex
phase:
t(p2, pl)
[u(q, + s ) ] p , ~ p 2 - - - u ( q , -s), (6.10)
m
as was already suggested by eq. (6.4). This means that we can restrict ourselves to
one polarization only, provided that we integrate over the p~', p~ system as before:

~'. u(q, As)fi(q, As) =~--~ dg~ u(q, +s)fi(q, + s ) , (6.11)

A
 R. Kleiss, W.J. -Stirling / p~ ~, W ± +jets 247

with a similar identity for antiparticles. Using this trick we can obtain the complete
polarization sum using only the current j ~ ( + , + ) of eqs. (6.9). Again the two
additional integrals are not expected to reduce the accuracy of the Monte Carlo
integration significantly.
Before we finish this section a remark is in order concerning the physical interpreta-
tion of the above spinor representation. For heavy bosons one can picture the
polarization representation as the current of an actual two-body decay; one may
wonder whether such a picture is possible in this case as well. This is not a trivial
question. The physically most appealing decay channel is a weak three-body decay,
like t-ob/~+v,. Another alternative would be the two-body decay into a massless
fermion and a massless scalar or vector particle, which does not lead to a gauge-
invariant amplitude if we assume minimal coupling. In the appendix it is shown
that we can actually write down a gauge-invariant amplitude for the decay t o
(massless fermion)+ photon, in such a way that we recover the desired spin sum of
eq. (2.3).

7. W's, Z's and partons

In the previous sections we have developed a calculational apparatus. Such an

exercise [7-12] is bound to be sterile unless one can actually perform non-trivial
calculations with it. Therefore we shall now describe a specific example; as stated
in the introduction, this calculation concerns the cross section for the process

p ~ o V + (0, 1, 2) jets. (7.1)

It is the fact that this calculation has already been applied successfully to study the
phenomenology of the above process which is the justification of the previous
discussion. Moreover, the calculation that we are now going to present may serve
as an illustration of our method.
In this paper we restrict ourselves to deriving compact expressions for the
diagrams, which lend themselves immediately to numerical evaluation by computer.
Of course, to obtain the cross section for (7.1) one has to square the values resulting
from these expressions and sum/average over spins and colours. Many amplitudes,
related to each other by crossing (and sometimes described by a different number
of diagrams) have to be included to obtain the complete prediction for all the 396
parton-level subprocesses* which contribute. Finally, the parton distribution func-
tions (and, possibly, jet fragmentation) have to be taken into account in order to
arrive at a definite phenomenological prediction.
Here we shall disregard all these points. The only phenomenological aspects in
our treatment are the following. First, the parton masses are neglected in view of
the fact that we do not consider top quark production. Second, the phase space
cuts are assumed to be (and in fact, are [2, 201 21]) such that no two pal-tons can

* Neglecting processes with b- or t-quarks in the initial state, or with t-quarks in the final state [20].
248 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stifling / pfi --, W ~ +jets

become collinear. Hence we do not have to worry about the numerical stability of
our approach, although we shall comment on it later.
We now proceed to prepare the calculation. It is easily seen that we have to
consider only four distinct subprocesses contributing to (7.1). These are
ufl~Z ° ,
ufi ~ Z°g,
Ufl ~ Z°u~,
ufi ~ Z°gg. (7.2)
All other subprocesses can be obtained from these by changing the weak-coupling
constants, leaving out certain Feynman graphs, or introducing Kobayashi-Maskawa
mixing matrix elements; or by moving partons from the initial to the final state state
or vice versa. In order to facilitate this last manipulation we introduce tlae following
expression for momentum conservation:
b( p , ) p ~ + b( p2)p~ +" • • + b( p , ) p ~ = 0, (7.3)
where the p~ are the particle momenta, and

b(p~) = bi = { - 1 ifpi is incoming (7.4)

+1 ifpi is outgoing.
If we include the coefficients b~ in our expressions all possible crossings are automati-
cally accounted for. As stated in our discussion of the spinor products we shall
regard the momentum pi as integer labels, so that the b~ become a simple array
which can be initialized at the start of the calculation. From this point on, then, we
can forget about which of the particles in a given amplitude are incoming. In this
way we arrive at diagrams for the processes in (7.2) in which all the particles have
been moved to the final state. These we call the generic diagrams. There are 10 of
these, all of which have to be evaluated for arbitrary helicities and crossings. This
evaluation will be the subject of the next section.

8. Ten diagrams

The computation of the generic Feynman graphs in this section is structured as

follows. We first write down the expressions for the diagrams. These consist of three
parts. The first part contains the overall constants, combinations of coupling con-
stants, and the denominators arising from the various propagators: these quantities
are easy to evaluate, without need for any spinor techniques. The second part
contains the spinors and Dirac matrices, for which we shall derive expressions in
terms of the s- and t-product matrices. The third part is the colour factor. This is
the only part of the cross section which we do not include in the amplitude M but
only in the colour sum and average in ~ IM{ 2. For a more detailed discussion of
this point we refer to the end of this section.
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~-.* W ±+jets 249

Our notation will be as follows. The labels i, j, k and l will denote the partons.
Parton i is defined to have four-momentum p~ and helicity Ai (as defined in the
previous sections); its b-factor, defined in eq. (7.4), is denoted by bi. The following
notation will also be useful:
fj = bibfl,j , (8.1)
where d o = d(p~,pj) as defined in eq. (3.12). Throughout this section we shall use
the symbols s~ and t~ for the products s ( p , pj) and t(p~, Pi) respectively. We shall
denote the four m o m e n t u m of V by q", and its mass by m; the "decay m o m e n t a "
introduced in eq. (5.2) are r~ and r~ [the symbol s~ standing for s(Q,p~), and so
on]. We can consistently use b ( r L 2 ) = + 1 . The vector and axial-vector coupling
constants of V to the parton with label i are written as g~ and gA, respectively. The
Q C D coupling constant is denoted by g. In principle we also have to multiply
amplitudes for W ± production with an appropriate element of the K o b a y a s h i -
Maskawa matrix. This rather trivial overall factor will be neglected in the following.
We are now ready to discuss the diagrams. This we shall do separately for the
four processes in eq. (7.2), in ascending order of complexity.
(i) Vqq
The one generic diagram, given in fig. 1, reads
M,(i,j) = Dr" T,(ki) " C, . (8.2)
With helicity conservation along the fermion line taken into account D~ is given by
D~= i ( g vi - AigA)6A,A,
i , (8.3)
where 6 is the Kronecker symbol. The colour factor is
Cl = 6c~ci , (8.4)
where ci and cj are the colours of the quarks i and j respectively. The o's can take
on three different values in QCD. The spinorial part T~ depends on the helicity
along the fermion line:
T , ( A ) = a ~ ( p , ) y ~ ' u , ( p j ) • ft ( r , ) y , u (r2). (8.5)
With the results of sect. 3, we can easily rewrite T~:
TI(+) = 2Si2llj,
T l ( - ) = 2t~,s2j. (8.6)

Mt(i,j) = _~__ V

]
Fig. 1. Generic Feynman diagram associated with ufi-~ Z °.
250 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ --* W ~-+jets

This c o m p l e t e s o u r e v a l u a t i o n o f the m a t r i x element. As an i l l u s t r a t i o n we note that

for W - p r o d u c t i o n only T ~ ( - ) contributes. C o n s e q u e n t l y , we have in the cross section:

[ T l ( - ) 1 2 0 c l t , ls2j12oc(p, • r l ) ( p j " r2)oc(1 + c o s 0*) 2 , (8.7)

where 0* is the angle b e t w e e n r~ a n d pj in the W rest frame. The ease with which
this w e l l - k n o w n result is d e r i v e d i n d i c a t e s t h a t o u r s p i n o r p r o d u c t f o r m a l i s m can
be useful even if the d i a g r a m s are not p a r t i c u l a r l y c o m p l i c a t e d .
Before p r o c e e d i n g with the next p r o c e s s we r e m a r k that the a b o v e cross section
is o f course a l r e a d y w e l l - k n o w n a n d can be d e r i v e d in m a n y ways. We have i n c l u d e d
it here for d i d a c t i c r e a s o n s : recall o u r a r g u m e n t that the s p i n o r p r o d u c t s m u s t
b e c o m e f a m i l i a r objects if we w a n t to use them.
(ii) V q q g
We can easily write d o w n the generic d i a g r a m s o f fig. 2. W e first, h o w e v e r , have
to specify the a u x i l i a r y v e c t o r p** in the g l u o n p o l a r i z a t i o n [cf. eq. (4.2)]. It is
c o n v e n i e n t to c h o o s e p~* to be one o f the o t h e r p a r t o n m o m e n t a in the process:
here, we c h o o s e p " = p~. N o w the s y m m e t r y b e t w e e n the d i a g r a m s M2 a n d M3 is
lost; on the o t h e r h a n d , M3 will be zero for s o m e helicities, as we shall see. O f
course the value o f the cross section s h o u l d n o t d e p e n d on the gauge choice. Such
p r o p e r t i e s a c t u a l l y p r o v i d e p o w e r f u l n u m e r i c a l checks on c a l c u l a t i o n s like these.
The generic d i a g r a m s are

M,(i,£ k) = On" T,(h,, hk) " C~, n = 2, 3 . (8.8)

T h e factors D , now also i n c l u d e the n o r m a l i z a t i o n N in eq. (4.2), a n d r e a d

02 = i~-~-~
k~v-- )t i -~
~ A ] ~3 h l h J j¢-1/,~
k \'¢" d i k l~-~/2 ,

D3 = - ig ( g vi - ' ~ i g Ai ) 3 x,~,fTkl (2d~k) -1/2 (8.9)

The c o l o u r f a c t o r n o w d e p e n d s also on the c o l o u r label ak o f the gluon, w h i c h can

t a k e on eight values in Q C D :

C2 = C3 = (Ta~)~,c~, (8.10)

i i

M21i.Lkl = ~ ~31i,j,kl=

\,
Fig. 2. Generic Feynman diagrams associated with ufi ~ Z°g.
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pjO ~ W ~ + j e t s 251

where the T's are the colour matrices [defined as ½times the G e l l - M a n n matrices--see
for instance ref. [22]]. The spinorial parts read:
T 2 ( A , A ') = t t _ ( r l ) 3 ; ~ u _ ( r 2 ) • il a ( p i ) ' ) / ~ ( b j p i -f- b k f f k ) " Y VU;~ ( p j ) " itA,(pg)y,,UA,(pi) ,

Ta(A , A') = fta,(pk)y.ux,(p,) • ftx(pi)y;'(b,p; + b k p k ) y ' u a ( p i ) • fi ( r l ) y . u (r2).

(8.11)
The evaluation is n o w very similar to that in eq. (3.7):
T2( +, +) = 4 b j s i 2 l U S i k t i j ,
T2( +, - ) = 4si2[ bjtljsii + bktl kski] tkj.
T 2 ( - , +) = 4til[ bjs2jtji + bkS2ktki]Skj,
T 2 ( - , - ) = 4biti t s2flikSo , (8.12)
and

T3(+, + ) = 4 b k S i k t i k S k 2 t t j ,
7"3(+, - ) ~ ~ ( - , +) -- O,
T3( - , - ) = 4bklikSiktk l s2j . (8.13)
Before we finish our discussion o f this process a few remarks are in order. First, if
we had chosen the gauge p " - - p ~ , two o f the 1"2 would have vanished instead o f
the 7"3. Second, the T3's contain a factor Pi'Pk, while the T2's always contain a
factor ~/p,. Pk, as follows from eq. (3.12). C o n s e q u e n t l y the effective denominators
are [(p~. Pk)( Pj" Pk)] 1/2 for M2, and [ Pi" Pk] -~/2 for Ms. The cross section is therefore
guaranteed to behave as (p;. p k ) - t ( p i • pk) -1 without double poles. It is the above
two properties that were more fully exploited by the C A L K U L collaboration
[4, 5, 13] to obtain simple results for the cross sections. For the present discussion,
the most noteworthy fact is that we obtain the correct peaking o f the cross section
without needing any additional cancellations between M2 and Ms. This ensures that
our a p p r o a c h is numerically stable over a m u c h larger region o f phase space than
we need to integrate over.
(iii) Vqqqq
The two generic diagrams, given in fig. 3, are
M,(i, Lk, l)=D," Tn(Ai, hk)" Cn, n=4,5, (8.14)
• i t~ 1 ,
D4=-ige(gv a,gA) a,a,fa~x,fkkt(f~,+f2,+f~2) '
D s = +ig2(g~ --AigA)
i t3A,xjfi; x ~ A , f k t1( f t j + f 2 j - F f l 2 ) 1 (8.15)
C 4 = C 5 ~- Z ( T"),.,c;(T") ...... (8.16)
a

T4(.L X') = C~_(r~)3,,.u_( r2) • a~ ( p,)3,'*(q + b,p,)3,"u~ ( pj) • ~,(pk)3,~u~,( p;) ,

Ts(A. A') = az,(pk)y.ua,(p;) • fia ( p , ) y " ( q + b j f l j ) ' y " u , x ( p j ) • it_(r,)y.u_(r2) .
(8.17)
252 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p ~ W ~-+jets
• j

I,,k(i,j.k,l) =

I t
Fig. 3. Generic Feynman diagrams associated with ufi-~ Z°ufi.

The strings T4.5 have the same structure a s T2, 3. Using q = )q + ¢ 2 (one of these
always giving zero) we can write them out immediately. A slightly more systematic
a p p r o a c h is to use the reversal identity (3.5) to realize that there are really only two
distinct expressions:

A+(i,j, k, l) =- T4(+, +) = 4Si2(112S2k + bifliSik)t 0 ,

A _ ( i,L k, l) =- T 4 ( - , - ) = 4t, l(s21flk + bis2J,k)so. (8.18)

The six other possibilities correspond to permutations o f the arguments o f A+ and

A . We have:

T,,(+, +) = A+(i,j, k, l ) , 7"5(+ , +) = A_(j, i, l, k) ,

T4(+, - ) = A+(i,.L l, k ) , Ts(+, - ) = A _ ( j , i, k, l) ,

T4(-, +) = A _ ( i , j , l, k ) , 7"5(- , +) = A+(.~ i, k, l ) ,

T 4 ( - , - ) = a _ ( i , j , k, l) , T s ( - , - ) = A + ( L i, 1, k) . (8.19)

We want to remark that there are processes (such as ufi ~ Z°ufi) in which the fermion
lines are connected in two different ways, so that in the amplitude we will encounter
not only M4,5(i,j, k, l) but also M4,5(i, l, k , j ) . Consequently all possible allowed
permutations in the arguments of A~ are actually used during the calculation. The
use of the functions A± ensures, therefore, a c o m p a c t and efficient p r o g r a m structure.
(iv) Vqqgg
We n o w come to the most complicated process so far. O f the five generic diagrams
(fig. 4), two contain the non-abelian three-gluon coupling. We shall first discuss the
"abelian" diagrams M6,7,s, and then study the non-abelian ones, M9 and Mlo.
First o f all we have to decide on a choice for the polarization vectors (ek) ~ and
( f ) " of the gluons k and I respectively. As before, we could choose p " = p ~ .
However, in this case a more attractive option is available. We choose

( e~) ~" = ( et- •)" = u~, (Pk)y~'uA (p,)/~/4pk " p, , (8.20)

 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pfi ~ W ±+jets 253

i i i

v : !
M6(i,j,k,[I = k MT(i,j,k,[) . . . . Ma{i,j,k,ll :

i i

k
Mg(i.j.k,I) : Mlo(i,j,k,[) = ~ ---V t

Fig. 4. Generic Feynman diagrams associated with ufi ~ Z°gg.

SO t h a t p'~ = p ~ for e k, a n d p~' = p ~ for e t. A p a r t f r o m b e i n g s y m m e t r i c , this c h o i c e

m e a n s t h a t the g a u g e s o f b o t h p o l a r i z a t i o n s are i d e n t i c a l : b o t h e k a n d e I are e x a c t l y
t r a n s v e r s e in a f r a m e in w h i c h Pk +Pt = 0. W e n o w write d o w n the a b e l i a n g r a p h s :

M.(i,j,k,Z)=D,,. T,,(A,, Ak, a l ) " (2',, n=6,7,8, (8.21)

• 2 i i 1 ~_ _~ --1 --1 ,
D6=tg (gv--Z,gA)6A,a,ffjt (£1 fjk fk,) (2dkt)
= i 2/ i )~ i,~ ,'--tr'-le 2- \--1
D7 -g (gv- igA) x,;bJikJjl t akl) ,

D s = ig e (gv--AigA)6a,A,ff~k
i i 1
( f k + f l + A t ) -1 ( 2d k t ) -1, (8.22)

C6 = C7 = C8 = ( TakT°')c,c,, (8.23)

T.(A,/~1,/~2) = T ~ o ( A ) a (rl)yuu_(r2) • fia,(pk)y~u,,(p~) " ftA:(pl)%UA:(pk) ,

n = 6, 7, 8 , (8.24)

T ~ ° ( A ) = ft. ( p~) y " ( bjpj + bkpk + b1~1) y"( b j ~ + bll~t) Y°U~ ( Pj) ,

T~"~' (A) = t],~(p~)y"(b,p~ + bk1~k)y~(bjpj + blp~)y°u~ (pj) ,

T ~ ° ( A ) = Oh ( p~) y" ( b,p~ + bkffk ) y° ( bil~i + bkff k + b11~1)T" uA ( pj ) . (8.25)

A l t h o u g h the e x p r e s s i o n s f o r T6.7.8 are a g a i n m o r e c o m p l i c a t e d , we can still write
d o w n the result i m m e d i a t e l y . In order to r e d u c e the n u m b e r o f results that h a v e to
b e g i v e n e x p l i c i t l y , we n o t e t h a t
T . ( - A , - A ~ , - Z 2 ) = [ T,,(A, h~, Z2)*],-,~r~, n=6,7,8. (8.26)
254 R, Kleiss, ~J. Stirling / p O-~ W ~ +jets

We therefore have to list only 12 of the 24 expressions. For 7"6 we have

T6( +, +, +) = 8bjs~=( bjt,jSjk + btt,s,k )d~jtkj ,

T6( + , +, - ) = 8bjsi2( bjhjSjk + btt,ts;k ) tosjkt 0 ,

T6(+, - , +) --=8bjs,2(bjt,jsj; + bkt, kSkl) tkjsjttkj,

T o ( [ - , - - , - - ) = 8si2(bjtljSjl dl- bktlkSkt)(bjdkj + btdk,)hj. (8.27)

As stated above, the other four possibilities follow from eq. (8.26). For T7 the
result is

T~(+, +, +) = 8 bjsik ( bitlisi2 + bkttkSk2 ) tljsflkj,

T~(+, +, - ) = 8Sik( bitlisi2 + bkttkSk2)( bjtuSjk + bttltSlk) t 0 ,

Tv(+, - , +) = 8 bibjsiltkisi= t ~jsjltkj,

T~( +, - , - ) = 8 biSutk~Si=( bjttjSjk + b;tl;S;k) t 0 . (8.28)

Finally, the expressions for T8 read:
Ts(+, +, +) = 8 Sik ( bflu + bkdtk) ( bitkiSi2 -Jr-bltk;s;=) t 1j,

Ts(+, +, - ) = 8 biSiktliSik (bittisi2 + bkhkSk2) t~j,

Ts(+, - , +) = 8 bisiltkiSil (bdkiSi2 + balk;St=) tlj,

T~(+, - , - ) = 8 bisildik (bihisi2 -t.- bkttkSk2) t lj" (8.29)

At this point a comment is in order on the peaking structure. As for Vqqg, the poles
in the cross section when a quark and a gluon become collinear turn out to be less
divergent than one might expect from considering the denominators only. We showed
how the numerators in each diagram separately go to zero in the collinear limit,
thus reducing the degree of divergence. In our approach, this behaviour is numeri-
cally stable. In the present case, the number of possible collinear peaking situations
is larger: we can have j#1, i # k , i # k # 1 , j # k # 1 , or i # k + j # 1 (with obvious notation).
For this amplitude as well, in each of these cases the T6,7.8 behave precisely so as
to reduce the divergence of the diagrams M6.7.8 to the correct degree, so that no
further cancellations are needed between the diagrams. This stability is quite surpris-
ing since in the polarization choice (8.20) we introduced yet another denominator
that vanishes when k//L This divergence, too, which is an artefact of our calculation,
is neatly cancelled in each separate diagram. So again the numerical behaviour of
our approach is even much better than was either required or expected.
We now come to the two "non-abelian" diagrams. It will turn out to be useful
to study first the three-gluon vertex part of these diagrams in some detail. It is
depicted in fig. 5 and reads

_gfa~,~. Tc[(bkpk - b~p;)" (ek" e;) + (bkpk + 2b;p;" e k ) e ~ - (b,pj + 2bkpk" e ; ) e ~ ] ,

(8.30)
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~ ~ W ~ +jets 255
Ek,ak

)J.,C ~kPk
Tc x ~nnrwH~J~wm~Jgo~Jg~

EI,al
Fig. 5. The three-gluon vertex occurring in M9 and Mr0.

where we have used m o m e n t u m conservation and included the colour matrix T,

with which the gluon is coupled to the fermion line. f is the structure constant of
the colour group. We obtain a dramatic simplification in eq. (8.30) by noting that,
in the present gauge, ek= + e~-. Inserting this, and using the definition of f as a
structure constant, we reduce eq. (8.30) to

- i g ( T " ~ T ", - T a ' T O ~ ) 3 a ~ , ( b k p k - btp,) ~' . (8.31)

Hence the expressions for Mg,~o are written as follows:

M,(i, Lk, I)=D,. T,(A,).C,, n=9,10; (8.32)

i z + -1,
D9 = - i g 2 ( g ~ - AigA)t~a,ajSXkxtfkkt ( £ k £1 + f k l )
• 2 i i 1 q_ .~ -1,
D~o = +zg (gV--AigA)C~a?.~C~.ka,fkkt (fik fl At) (8.33)

c~ = C l o = ( T ' ~ T ", _ T",Ta~)~,~,, (8.34)

T9()t ) = fi ( r l ) % , u _ ( r 2 ) " ~ ( p ~ ) y ~ ( b j ~ + bkPk + btpt)(bkPk -- b t p t ) u A ( p j ) ,

Tlo(a) = aA(pi)(bgl~k -- b,/cl)(bd~ + bkffk q- b, g l ) y " u a ( p j ) " u-(rl)y~u-(r2).
(8.35)

It is easy to write down the explicit form for T9,1o:

7"9(+) = 2si2{[ bjtusjk + bgt tstk ] bktkj -- [ bjtusjt + bkt, kSkl ] bgtj} ,

T1o(+ ) = 2{ bks,k [ b~tk~s~2 + bgktsn] -- bls~l [ b~t.s~2 + bkttkSk2] } t u , (8.36)

and again T9,1o(-) are obtained by taking the complex conjugate and interchanging
rl and r2, according to eq. (8.26)• In this case as well, the T9.~o behave in collinear
peaking situations just so as to temper the degree of divergence.
This finishes the main part of our discussion of the generic diagrams. We have
shown that we can write them as expressions in terms of the products s and t, with
very little Dirac algebra actually being required. The formulae can immediately be
entered into a computer program. The only part which remains is the colour factors.
256 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p ~ W±+jets
Given an explicit representation of the colour matrices T °, the colour factor for
each diagram is completely determined for given colour labels of the relevant partons.
In principle we could therefore perform an explicit sum over the colour degrees of
freedom in order to obtain ~ IMI 2. However, on the one hand this is inefficient since
the colour labels take on many different values, and on the other hand it is
unnecessary because the colour factors in the cross section are constants, not
depending on the phase space momenta, and can therefore be fixed once and for
all. We shall now discuss the colour factors that have to be included in the definition
of ~ IM[ 2 for our four processes.
(i) Vqq
The overall colour factor is very simple*

E (8 .... ) 2 = 3 . (8.37)
e I c2

This has to be included as a factor in the cross section.

(ii) Vqqg
Again we have one overall factor for the cross section

E (T~c2)2=y.T r T°T" = 4 . (8.38)

a c i C2 a

(iii) Vqqqq
This case is more complicated, Since in the most general case the quarks can be
connected in two different ways, the interference between these two sets of diagrams
will be colour-suppressed. Consider the process

~(p,)u(pj) ~ u(pk)u(p,)Zo. (8.39)

The eight diagrams contributing to the amplitude are grouped as follows:

BI= Ma(i,j, k, l)+ Ms(i,j, k, l)+ M4(k , l, i,j)+ Ms(k, l, i,j) ,

B2=M4(i,l,k,j)+Ms(i,l,k,j)+M4(k,j,i,I)+Ms(k,j,i,l). (8.40)

The cross section is therefore constructed as

IMI 2= C,, ~ [B,[2+ C22 Y~ [B2[2 - C,z Y~ 2 Re ( B , B * ) , (8.41)

spins spins spins

with
C,, = C22 = E Tr ( T ° T b) Tr (TaT b) = 2 ,
ab

C12= ~] Tr ( TaTbTaT b) = -3 . (8.42)

ab

In eq. (8.41) the minus sign takes the Fermi statistics into account.
* Three colours for the quarks are assumed.
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / p~6~ W ±+jets 257

(iv) Vqqgg
In this case we always have eight Feynman graphs which are most conveniently
grouped according to the symmetry in the gluon colour labels. For the process
a(p,)u(pj) ~ g(Pk)g(Pt)Zo (8.43)
this gives us the following two graphs:
B', =~[M6(i,j, k, t)+ MT(i,j, k, t)+ M~(i,j, k, t)
+ M6(i,j, l, k ) + M7(i,j, l, k ) + M s ( i , j , l, k ) ] ,
B~= ½[M6(i,j, k, l)+ MT(i,j, k, I)+ Ms(i,j, k, l)
- M h ( i , j , l, k ) - MT(i,j, l, k ) - Ms(i,j, l, k)]
+Mg(i,j, k, l)+ M,o(i,j, k, l) . (8.44)
The colour factor of B'1 is symmetric in the gluon colour labels, while B~ is
antisymmetric. Consequently they do not interfere in the colour sum, and we can
write

spins spins

with
C't, = • Tr ( T'~T b + T h T a)( T a T b + ThT~) = ~ ,
ab

C~2= • Tr ( T a T b - TbTa)( T b T a - T a T b) = 12. (8.46)

ab

Finally, to obtain the correct spin and colour average, we have to divide the cross
sections by 36 for a qq, qcl or ~ initial state, by 96 for a qg or clg initial state, and
by 256 for a gg initial state.
This finishes our discussion of the amplitudes for the processes in eq. (7.2). The
formulae presented in this section can be directly programmed into a computer. As
we have stated before, the rest of the calculation, which includes an enumeration
of all 396 processes, their K o b a y a s h i - M a s k a w a flavour mixing factors, the parton
distribution functions, the choice of the Q C D scale, and the Monte Carlo integration,
are discussed elsewhere, together with the phenomenological consequences.

We thank S.D. Ellis for m a n y stimulating discussions. Many essential features of

this work have also been derived independently by Z. Xu, D.-H, Zhang and L.
Chang [15] and by Z. Kunszt and J.F. Gunion [23]. We are grateful to these authors
for communicating their results to us.

Appendix
Here we present proofs of the various equations presented in this paper. The
reader may want to follow them as an exercise to become familiar with spinor
techniques.
258 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pff-~ W ±+jets
SECT. 3

Eq. (3.3):
u+ (ko) a+ (ko) = .k/l fO_,](0,](, = -~o+X'ok, 2 = o~+Xo • (A.1)
Eq. (3.4):
u~ (p) tiA(p) = ~Ow_xko~/(2p. ko) = wxt0. (A.2)

Eq. (3.5): Let S be any string of 7 matrices, and S R its reverse. Then,

fi_(ko)Su_(ko) = Tr (w_.YoS) = Tr (sRJ(oO~) = a+(ko)SRu+(ko), (A.3)

a_(ko)Su+(ko) = Tr (w_J(oSJ(,) = Tr (sRJ(oOJ_J(,)

= - T r (sRX, o_J(o) = -a_(ko)SRu+(ko). (A.4)
If we choose

S =lJ, Flf2/[4(pl. ko)(P2" ko)] '/2 ,

eq. (3.5) follows.
Eq. (3.6): Let S be any string of an odd n u m b e r o f 7 matrices. Then there are
two four-vectors V" and A ~ such that

S = v.-/~ + A.75~/" . (A.5)

From the derivation

2(S+SR)=2[V~(27")+Au(ysy"+yuy~)]=4Vu7" =Tr (Sy"), (A.6)

eq. (3.6) follows if we choose

S = t~2w_Jdol~/[4(p," ko)(P2" ko)] '/2.

Eq. (3.12):

s(p,, p2)t(p2, p,) = ~+(pl)u (p2)~-(p2)u+(p~) = Tr (o~+p~ P2) = 2 p , . P2. (A.7)

SECT, 4

Eq. (4.1): We prove the two non-trivial properties o f eq. (4.1) for the polarization
choice (4.2):

e+" e+oC fi+(k)7"[a+(k)y~u+(p)]u+(p) = 2a+(k)[u+(p)a+(k)

+ u_(k)~_(p)]u+(p) = O,
(A.8)

where the first term vanishes because of its helicity structure, and the second one
because k" and p " are lightlike. The other property follows most easily from eq. (3.5):
e+" e = N Z a + ( k ) y " u + ( p ) a _ ( k ) y , u _ ( p ) = N2~+(k)y~'u+(p)a+(p)yuu+(k)
=-2N2fi+(k)pu+(k) = - 4 N 2 ( p • k ) = - 1 . (A.9)
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pp~ W~ +jets 259

The spin sum (2.2) follows from explicit evaluation:

Z E~(e~)* =Y~ N2 Tr (toaJg"g~'/~y~)-- -g~'"-t P U k " + p V k " (A.10)

~ ( p . k)

It might appear that the polarization choice (4.2) could be modified in order to
avoid choosing a p~:

(A.11)
e~ = A G (k)3,"u~ ( k o ) / [ 4 ( k " ko)] '/2 .
However, this introduces u~(ko) explicitly into the calculation. Since these behave
so differently from the other spinors we want to avoid this here.
The interrelation between two different choices of pU is the following. Define two
choices as

e~ = N i ~ + ( k ) y ~ u + ( p i ) , Ni = [4(pi • k)] -1/2 , i = 1, 2. (A.12)

We can choose a frame in which k points along the z-axis. We can make el,2 lie in
the x y plane by a suitable gauge transformation (i.e. adding a term proportional to
k~'). They can then differ by at most a complex phase. Consequently there are
numbers 05 and fl such that

e~ = ei'~(Pz'P,)e~ 4- fl( P2, Pl) k~ . (A.13)

We find 05 from the normalization:

e ~o(p:'p')= - e 2 " e * = - N , N2a+(k)yUu+(p2)'O+(p,)y,u+(k)

= 2 N , N2s(k, p , ) t ( p 2 , k)

--[ S(k'pl) t ( k ' p 2 ) ] 1/2 (A.14)

L t(k,p,) s(k, p2)_l

As expected, 05 changes sign under interchange ofp~ and P2. Contracting both sides
of eq. (A.13) with p~ we obtain

e2 • Pl = N2O+(k)t~lu+(P2) = N 2 s ( k , p l ) t ( p , , P2) = fl(P2, P,)(Pl ' k ) , (A.15)

from which we have

~ ( P2, P,) = 2 N f l ( p b P2)/ t ( p , , k ) . (A.16)

The consistency condition
fl ( Pl, P2) = - e i4~(PPP")fl ( P2, P,) (A.17)

is left to the reader as an exercise.

SECT. 5

We illustrate the relation between the use in the cross section of free on-shell
bosons, and the use of decaying resonances. Let a boson with momentum q~ and
260 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stifling / p~ ~ W ~ + j e t s

mass m decay into two fermions with m o m e n t a p~ and p~', by way of the current

j~ = iga(pl)(1 + ys)y~v(p2) . (A.18)

The corresponding decay width is

F = mg2/67r. (A.19)

In the cross section an on-shell boson is represented by

E e ~ e, ~ ~ - 1~ d 4q6(q2-m2) = ( -g~'~+ ~ ' ~ ) (27r)32q

.d3q o (A.20)

If we treat the boson as a resonance, we find, instead:

1 .~,., ~ 1 d4
(q2 m2)+m2F2J Y ~ g P' 6(pZ) d4p26(p2)

g2 Tr (¢o+3,~/~2y~/~1) d4q dg2

X (q2 m2)2 + m 2 Ft2 " 2(2rr) 6 (A.21)

where Ft is the total decay width of the resonance, and g~ the decay angle in its
rest frame. Performing the angular integral as in eq. (5.4) we reduce this to
g2m2 (--g~'+q'qV/m2) d4q --[-g~'~+
F !
677"2 (q2--m2)2+m21N2t (2"rr)3 /~t\ m2 ] (~'-~)5 (A.22)

In this last step the so-called peaking approximation has been made, in which the
Breit-Wigner shape is replaced by a delta function. Comparing eqs. (A.20) and
(A.22) we see that the two approaches are equivalent if the above decay saturates
the total width, i.e. F = Ft.

SECT. 6

We prove eq. (6.1) by writing out the projection operator:

u(q, s}~(q, s) = (q+ rn)co X(q+ rn)/(2q, k)
= [ ( q + m),K+ ys(q_ m),/(](q+ m)/(4q, k)

= [2(q. k ) + 2 ( q , k)yS-2myS,l(](q+m)/(4q • k)
=½(1 + yS~c)(q+ m ) , (A.23)

where s ° is defined as

s~, = l q . _ m k~,. (A.24)

m (q- k)
It is easy to see that s • s = - 1 and q. s = 0 so that eq. (A.23) indeed describes a
pure spin state. Substituting p~ for k ~' as in eq. (6.2) we arrive at the form (6.4) for
 R. Kleiss, W.J. Stirling / pfi-+ W± +jets 261

s ~'. By changing the sign of the ys we obtain the other spin state. The spin sum
(2.3) then follows immediately. Eq. (6.11) is proved by writing out the integral and
some Dirac algebra:

f dOu(q,+s)a(q,+s)=f dfl(q/m+l)w_P2(q/m+l)

dO,,, p2J(q/m+l)
=2rc(g[/rn+l)w q ( q / m + l ) = 2 z r ( q + r n ) . (A.25)

By replacing m by - m we obtain the same derivation for antiparticles. Finally,

which decay of a heavy fermion can lead to the correct spin sum? Let the massive
fermion with m o m e n t u m q" and mass m decay into a massless fermion with
m o m e n t u m p " and a photon with m o m e n t u m k" and polarization vector e". The
simplest gauge-invariant amplitude for this decay is u(q) coupled to a spinorial
object •:

scoc{c~[(p • k ) , c - ( p , e)J(]+3[Xe~-egY]}ua(p), (A.26)

with arbitrary complex numbers a and 3- We choose e*" as in eq. (4.2), with helicity
A'. We then obtain
¢oc(ot + 23,1()(ua,(p)ax,(k)+ u ,,(k)u_,,(p))u, (p)
= -6-a.a,a-a (k)u, (p)(a + 2fiX) u_, (p)

°c[2-~ma,(k)u-~,(P)]U;,(k)+u a ( P ) . (A.27)

which reduces to the form (6.3) if we take p~ = k ~', p~ = p~', and a = 2m3. The choice
o~= -2m3 results in the choice for the antiparticle.

References

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