Lund multiplicity in QCD jets

Abstract

We compute the average Lund multiplicity of high-energy QCD jets. This extends an earlier calculation, done for event-wide multiplicity in $e^+e^-$ collisions [arxiv:2205.02861], to the large energy range available at the LHC. Our calculation achieves next-to-next-to-double logarithmic (NNDL) accuracy. Our results are split into a universal collinear piece, common to the $e^+e^-$ calculation, and a non-universal large-angle contribution. The latter amounts to 10-15% of the total multiplicity. We provide accurate LHC predictions by matching our resummed calculation to fixed-order NLO results and by incorporating non-perturbative corrections via Monte Carlo simulations. Including NNDL terms leads to a 50% reduction of the theoretical uncertainty, with non-perturbative corrections remaining below 5% down to transverse momentum scales of a few GeV. This proves the suitability of Lund multiplicities for robust theory-to-data comparisons at the LHC.