Effective theories and measurements at colliders

If the LHC run 2 will not provide conclusive hints for new resonant Physics beyond the Standard Model, dedicated and consistent search strategies at high momentum transfers will become the focus of searches for anticipated deviations from the Standard Model expectation. We discuss the phenomenological importance of QCD and electroweak corrections in bounding higher dimensional operators when analysing energy-dependent differential distributions. In particular, we study the impact of RGE-induced operator running and mixing effects on measurements performed in the context of an Effective Field Theory extension of the SM. Furthermore, we outline a general analysis strategy which allows a RGE-improved formulation of constraints free of theoretical shortcomings that can arise when differential distributions start to probe the new interaction scale. We compare the numerical importance of such a programme against the standard analysis approach which is widely pursued at present. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.