Differential distributions for heavy quark production depend on the heavy quark mass and other momentum scales, which can yield additional large logarithms and inhibit accurate predictions. Logarithms involving the heavy quark mass can be summed in heavy quark parton distribution functions in the Aivazis-Collins-Olness-Tung (ACOT) factorization scheme. A second class of logarithms involving the heavy-quark transverse momentum can be summed using an extension of the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism. We perform a systematic summation of logarithms of both types, thereby obtaining an accurate description of heavy-quark differential distributions at all energies. Our method essentially combines the ACOT and CSS approaches. As an example, we present angular distributions for bottom quarks produced in parity-conserving events at large momentum transfers Q at the DESY ep collider HERA.

• Received 14 October 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.67.074015