PDF uncertainties on the W boson mass measurement from the lepton transverse momentum distribution

We study the charged current Drell-Yan process and we evaluate the proton parton densities uncertainties on the lepton transverse momentum distribution and their impact on the determination of the W-boson mass. We consider the global PDF sets CT10, MSTW2008CPdeut, NNPDF2.3, NNPDF3.0, MMHT2014, and apply the PDF4LHC recipe to combine the individual results, obtaining an uncertainty on MW that ranges between +-18 and +-24 MeV, depending on the final state, collider energy and kind. We discuss the dependence of the uncertainty on the acceptance cuts and the role of the individual parton densities in the final result. We remark that some PDF sets predict an uncertainty on MW of O(10 MeV); this encouraging result is spoiled, in the combined analysis of the different sets, by an important spread of the central values predicted by each group.Comment: version accepted for publication on Phys.Rev.D, one figure and two references adde

Prospects for improving the LHC W boson mass measurement with forward muons

Measurements of the $W$ boson mass are planned by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, but for the time being, these may be unable to compete with the current world average precision of 15~MeV, due to uncertainties in the PDFs. We discuss the potential of a measurement by the LHCb experiment based on the charged lepton transverse momentum $p_T^{\ell}$ spectrum in $W \to \mu\nu$ decays. The unique forward acceptance of LHCb means that the PDF uncertainties would be anti-correlated with those of $p_T^{\ell}$ based measurements by ATLAS and CMS. We compute an average of ATLAS, CMS and LHCb measurements of $m_W$ from the $p_T^{\ell}$ distribution. Considering PDF uncertainties, this average is a factor of 1.3 more precise than an average of ATLAS and CMS alone. Despite the relatively low rate of $W$ production in LHCb, we estimate that with the Run-II dataset, a measurement could be performed with sufficient experimental precision to exploit this anti-correlation in PDF uncertainties. The modelling of the lepton-pair transverse momentum distribution in the neutral current Drell-Yan process could be a limiting factor of this measurement and will deserve further studies.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to EPJ

Review of single vector boson production in pp collisions at s=7\sqrt{s} = 7 TeV

This review summarises the main results on the production of single vector bosons in the Standard Model, both inclusively and in association with light and heavy flavour jets, at the Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The general purpose detectors at this collider, ATLAS and CMS, each recorded an integrated luminosity of $\approx 40\,{\rm pb^{-1}}$ and $5\,{\rm fb^{-1}}$ in the years 2010 and 2011, respectively. The corresponding data offer the unique possibility to precisely study the properties of the production of heavy vector bosons in a new energy regime. The accurate understanding of the Standard Model is not only crucial for searches of unknown particles and phenomena but also to test predictions of perturbative Quantum-Chromo-Dynamics calculations and for precision measurements of observables in the electroweak sector. Results from a variety of measurements in which single W or Z bosons are identified are reviewed. Special emphasis in this review is given to interpretations of the experimental results in the context of state-of-the-art predictions.Comment: 60 pages, 64 figures, For Eur. Phys. J.

Re-evaluation of the LHC potential for the measurement of Mw

We present a study of the LHC sensitivity to the W boson mass based on simulation studies. We find that both experimental and phenomenological sources of systematic uncertainties can be strongly constrained with Z measurements: the lineshape is robustly predicted, and its analysis provides an accurate measurement of the detector resolution and absolute scale, while the differential cross-section analysis absorbs most of the strong interaction uncertainties. A sensitivity \delta Mw \sim 7 \MeV for each decay channel (W --> e nu, W --> mu nu), and for an integrated luminosity of 10 fb-1, appears as a reasonable goal

Ratios of WW and ZZ cross sections at large boson pTp_T as a constraint on PDFs and background to new physics

We motivate a measurement of various ratios of $W$ and $Z$ cross sections at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at large values of the boson transverse momentum ($p_T\gtrsim M_{W,Z}$). We study the dependence of predictions for these cross-section ratios on the multiplicity of associated jets, the boson $p_T$ and the LHC centre-of-mass energy. We present the flavour decomposition of the initial-state partons and an evaluation of the theoretical uncertainties. We show that the $W^+/W^-$ ratio is sensitive to the up-quark to down-quark ratio of parton distribution functions (PDFs), while other theoretical uncertainties are negligible, meaning that a precise measurement of the $W^+/W^-$ ratio at large boson $p_T$ values could constrain the PDFs at larger momentum fractions $x$ than the usual inclusive $W$ charge asymmetry. The $W^\pm/Z$ ratio is insensitive to PDFs and most other theoretical uncertainties, other than possibly electroweak corrections, and a precise measurement will therefore be useful in validating theoretical predictions needed in data-driven methods, such as using $W(\to\ell\nu)$+jets events to estimate the $Z(\to\nu\bar{\nu})$+jets background in searches for new physics at the LHC. The differential $W$ and $Z$ cross sections themselves, ${\rm d}\sigma/{\rm d}p_T$, have the potential to constrain the gluon distribution, provided that theoretical uncertainties from higher-order QCD and electroweak corrections are brought under control, such as by inclusion of anticipated next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures. v2: expanded version published in JHE

Precise measurements of the W mass at the Tevatron and indirect constraints on the Higgs mass

I describe the latest D0 and CDF W boson mass measurements. The D0 measurement is performed with $4.3\, fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity in the electron decay channel with a data set of $1.68\times 10^{6}$ W candidates. The value of the W boson mass measured by D0 is $M_W = 80.375\pm 0.023\, GeV$ when combined with the previously analyzed $1\, fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The CDF measurement uses $2.2\, fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity in both electron and muon decay channels with a total of $1.1\times 10^{6}$ W candidates. The value of the W boson mass measured by CDF is $M_W = 80.387\pm 0.019\, GeV$. I report the combination of these two measurements with previous Tevatron measurements and with the LEP measurements of the W boson mass. The new world average is $M_W = 80.385\pm 0.015\, GeV$. I discuss the implications of the new measurement to the indirect measurement of the Standard Model Higgs boson mass.Comment: Moriond QCD 2012 (8 pages, 6 figures); v2: added report number; v3: corrected typo in the number of W candidates used in the measuremen

Measuring the W Boson Mass at Hadron Colliders

We discuss the prospects for measuring the W mass in Run II of the Tevatron and at the LHC. The basic techniques used to measure M_W are described and the statistical, theoretical and detector-related uncertainties are discussed in detail.Comment: Latex, 13 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, invited talk presented at the Mini-Workshop ``Electroweak Precision Data and the Higgs Mass'', DESY Zeuthen, Germany, February 28 - March 1, 2003, to appear in the Proceeding