Thrust Distributions  (V. Sorin's PhD. thesis, D. Elvira, R. Piegaia)

The KT jet algorithm offers several advantages with respect to the fixed cone algorithm.
First, the absence of cone boundaries avoids out-of-cone showering losses. Second,  it can be implemented in the same way at all levels (parton level theoretical calculation, final state particle level  Monte Carlo, calorimeter cells), therefore eliminating the split/merge ambiguity. In addition, the algorithm is infrared safe at all orders in a perturbative QCD calculation.
Event shape measurements like the thrust distribution are useful to test the quality of the perturbative description of the event structure,  evaluate non-perturbative  contributions to radiation patterns (low ET), and extract as from high ET event (low sensitivity to PDFs and non-perturbative effects)

Illustration:



 


V.Daniel Elvira

Last modified: Mon Aug 30 16:18:43 CDT 1999