Drell-Yan Production of W/Z at the LHC with Protons and Heavy Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper analyzes W/Z boson production in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, using NLO calculations with nuclear PDFs to identify observables sensitive to nuclear modifications.

Contribution

It presents an ongoing analysis incorporating heavy-ion collision data with nuclear PDFs to improve understanding of nuclear effects in W/Z production at the LHC.

Findings

Identification of promising observables for nuclear modifications

Use of nCTEQ15 nuclear PDFs with uncertainties

NLO cross section calculations at 2.76 and 5.02 TeV

Abstract

Drell-Yan W/Z electroweak boson production at the LHC is an essential standard candle which is used for calibration of beam luminosity and detector properties. In addition to proton-proton collisions, the LHC has measured heavy nuclei lead-lead and proton-lead W/Z production. Inclusion of these data sets in future fits can provide discriminating information of the nuclear modifications present in the Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs). We present an ongoing analysis of W/Z production in lead-lead and proton-lead collisions at the LHC using the \texttt{nCTEQ15} nuclear Parton Distribution Functions (nPDFs) including uncertainties. The cross sections are calculated at NLO with the \texttt{FEWZ\ 2.1} program at 2.76 and 5.02 TeV. We identify promising observables for the observation of the nuclear modifications.