QCD evolution at one percent precision

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The proton’s parton content is parameterized in terms of universal parton distribution functions whose scale dependence is governed by the evolution equations in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) through the splitting functions. Splitting functions are calculable within perturbative QCD and the project aims at computing them at four-loop accuracy. This information will reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the QCD evolution to the one percent level and it is necessary in order to match the precision of the available experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider and the world data on deep-inelastic scattering (DIS). The project aims at making a decisive step towards completing the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) QCD description of hard scattering reactions at hadron colliders. The results will be used to determine the strong coupling constant from the world DIS data at N3LO accuracy with a theoretical uncertainty of less than one percent.