Parton distributions for LO generators

We present a study of the results obtained by combining LO partonic matrix elements with either LO or NLO parton distributions. These are compared to the best prediction using NLO for both matrix elements and parton distributions. The aim is to determine which parton distributions are most appropriate to use in those cases where only LO matrix elements are available, e.g. as in many Monte Carlo generators. Both LO and NLO parton distributions have flaws, sometimes serious, for some processes, so a modified optimal LO set is suggested. We investigate a wide variety of processes, and the new modified LO* PDF works at least as well as, and often better than, both LO and NLO PDFs in nearly all cases.

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