New Statistical PDFs: Predictions and Tests up to LHC Energies
Résumé
The quantum statistical parton distributions approach proposed more than one decade ago is revisited by considering a larger set of recent and accurate Deep Inelastic Scattering experimental results. It enables us to improve the description of the data by means of a new determination of the parton distributions. This global next-to-leading order QCD analysis leads to a good description of several structure functions, involving unpolarized parton distributions and helicity distributions, in a broad range of x and Q2 and in terms of a rather small number of free parameters. There are several challenging issues, in particular the behavior of d¯(x)/u¯(x) at large x, a possible large positive gluon helicity distribution, etc.. The predictions of this theoretical approach will be tested for single-jet production and charge asymmetry in W± production in p¯p and pp collisions up to LHC energies, using recent data and also for forthcoming experimental results.