Charge Asymmetry of Weak Boson Production at the LHC and the Charm Content of the Proton

Abstract

We investigate the production of the weak bosons $W^{+}$, $W^{-}$ and $Z$ at the LHC as a function of their rapidity, reconstructed {\it experimentally} from their leptonic decay. We show that the measurements provide a powerful tool for constraining the parton distribution functions, as was already the case for the lower energy $p\bar{p}$ collider data. We study the charge asymmetry determining the $u$ and $d$ distribution functions using the reconstructed $W^{+}$, $W^{-}$ rapidities. We also show how the ratio of the $W$ and $Z$ boson rapidity distributions directly probes the charm quark distribution function of the proton.

17 pages, 11 figures, Version accepted in Physical Review D (2013)

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using the ATLAS detector
• Phenomenology of nonperturbative charm in the nucleon
• Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector
• Discovering sterile Neutrinos ligther than $M_W$ at the LHC
• Ratios of $W$ and $Z$ cross sections at large boson $p_T$ as a constraint on PDFs and background to new physics
• A direct probe of the intrinsic charm content of the proton
• Measurements of differential cross sections of top quark pair production in association with jets in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using the ATLAS detector
• Study of $Z$ bosons produced in association with charm in the forward region
• $D$ - meson production at very forward rapidities: estimating the intrinsic charm contribution
• Parton distribution functions and constraints on the intrinsic charm content of the proton using BHPS approach
• Multiprocess imaging of nuclear modifications on parton distributions in proton-nucleus collisions