Jose Rojo - What hides inside a proton? From heavy quarks and photons to leptons and Higgs bosons

Abstract: "The quark and gluon substructure of the proton, quantified by the parton distribution functions (PDFs), represents a central ingredient for precision phenomenology at high-energy lepton-hadron and hadron-hadron colliders. Progress in PDF determinations makes possible improved theoretical predictions for key process such as Higgs or Dark Matter production at LHC, as well as opening new windows for our understanding of outstanding fundamental issues in Quantum Chromodynamics. In this talk, I focus on recent progress in our understanding of the "rare" components of the proton: the strange, charm, and bottom quarks (key input for many LHC processes); photons and leptons (relevant once QED corrections are accounted for), and weak gauge and Higgs bosons (which arise at large energies due to weak radiative corrections). Background material covering basic concepts in QCD factorisation, parton distributions, deep inelastic scattering, and global PDF determinations will be provided prior to the lecture.