On the EFT validity for Drell–Yan tails at the LHC

Abstract In this article, we examine the validity range of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) description of high-energy Drell–Yan processes at the LHC. To this purpose, we consider explicit mediators that contribute to these processes in the s - and t -channels, comparing their effects in Drell–Yan distributions with the ones obtained by matching onto the corresponding EFT. We determine the conditions for the EFT results to accurately describe these scenarios. In particular, we explore the impact of including dimension-eight $$(d=8)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> operators in the faster convergence of the EFT series, at the analytical and numerical level, considering contributions to the cross section up to the square of $$d=8$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> EFT operator insertions. Moreover, we discuss the possible implications of clipping LHC data and illustrate results for a specific New-Physics scenario motivated by low-energy flavor data.