A study of experimental sensitivities to nucleon parton distributions with xFitter

In collider physics, parton distribution functions (PDFs) play a crucial role in computing theoretical cross sections for scattering reactions. This study explores how different experimental data sets influence extracted PDFs in CTEQ-TEA and MSHT NNLO PDF analyses. To gauge the impact of experimental data, including the HERA and ZEUS combined charm and beauty production, LHCb 7 TeV charm and beauty production, and CMS 2.76 TeV W+c production, I utilize the \(L_2\) sensitivity in the Hessian framework as a visual representation of their respective impacts. This sensitivity quantifies the statistical pulls on individual data sets against the best-fit PDFs, facilitating the identification of tensions among competing data sets. Using the QCD fitting framework xFitter, I extract the necessary values for plotting \(L_2\) sensitivities for eight distinct data sets implemented in the program, employing recent PDF sets from the CTEQ-TEA and MSHT groups. The computed \(L_2\) sensitivities estimate the potential impact of the examined data sets.