$W$ Boson Production in Polarized p+p Collisions at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper reports on the measurement of $W$ boson production in polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC, providing insights into the spin structure of the proton through asymmetry and cross section data.

Contribution

It presents the first results of $W$ boson production and parity-violating asymmetries in polarized p+p collisions at RHIC, advancing understanding of proton spin-flavor asymmetries.

Findings

Preliminary cross section measurements for $W^{ m iny f ext{±}}$ production.

First measurement of parity-violating single-spin asymmetry $A_L$ in this context.

Results contribute to understanding the spin structure of the proton.

Abstract

The production of $W^{\pm}$ bosons in longitudinally polarized $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions at RHIC provides a new means of studying the spin-flavor asymmetries of the proton sea quark distributions. Details of the $W^{\pm}$ event selection in the $e^{\pm}$ decay channel at mid-rapidity are presented, along with preliminary results for the production cross section and parity-violating single-spin asymmetry, $A_L$, from the STAR Collaboration's 2009 data at $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV.