This work discusses how Bottom-quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be used as a probe to hint to Beyond the Standard Model Physics from a phenomenological point of view. In this contest, the calculation of three observables is presented, all related to the production of one boson (Z, or a Higgs particle of Beyond the Standard Model nature) in association with a bottom-quark.
The Polarization Asymmetry of the Z-boson produced in association with a b-quark is computed at Leading Order, using the 5-flavours number scheme, assuming it is measured at the LHC with a center of mass energy of 14 TeV. It is shown how this observable can be used for an accurate determination of the A_b parameter, measured at the Stanford Linear Collider (and, indirectly, at the Large Electron Positron), and known to be in tension with its Standard Model prediction: this strongly motivates its new, independent, determination at the LHC. As an estimate of the theoretical uncertainties affecting the prediction of the Polarization Asymmetry, this is re-computed varying both the renormalization/factorization scale and the Parton Density Function set, showing its strong stability against such effects.
The Forward-Backward asymmetry of the b-quark produced in association with a leptonically decaying Z-boson, firstly defined by the candidate, is computed at LO in the 5-flavours number scheme. It is here shown that this observable inherits, from the Polarization Asymmetry of the Z-boson in the same process, stability under factorization/renormalization scale variations and PDF-set choice. For this observable, directly accessible by the LHC experimental collaborations, a complete feasibility study is presented in this work, simulating, with modern tools (MadGraph, PYTHIA, Delphes), both the showering/hadronization processes and the detector response, assuming a final integrated luminosity of 400 fb^-1 with 14 TeV in the center of mass of the colliding proton beams. This allows to determine, for the Forward-Backward asymmetry, an upper bound on the leading experimental systematic and statistical uncertainties at the next LHC run.
Finally, the production cross section of a light Higgs boson in association with one b-quark is computed at Next-to-Leading Order in alpha_em in the framework of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The calculation has been done in the 5FNS, using, respectively, the DRBAR renormalisation scheme to manage Ultraviolet divergencies, and the soft-photon approximation to treat consistently Infrared divergencies. This is the first calculation of the Electromagnetic NLO effect in the NMSSM, which shows a relevant relative magnitude respect to the LO determination of genuinely NMSSM nature.
