Measurement of electroweak-boson production in Pb--Pb and p--Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of electroweak bosons in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC using ALICE, providing insights into their production and nuclear effects at high energies and rapidities.

Contribution

It presents the first measurements of Z and W boson production in Pb--Pb and p--Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE, including nuclear modification factors and comparisons to theoretical models.

Findings

Z boson production in Pb--Pb aligns with models including nuclear PDFs.

Electroweak boson yields in p--Pb show nuclear effects consistent with predictions.

Results help constrain nuclear parton distribution functions at high energies.

Abstract

Measurements of electroweak-bosons in heavy-ion collisions with ALICE are reported. They are measured at large rapidities, via their (di)muonic decay: Z $\rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$ and W$^\pm \rightarrow \mu^\pm \nu$. The Z production and nuclear modification factor in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV are presented and compared to theoretical predictions with or without nuclear modifications of the Parton Distribution Functions. Measurements of electroweak-boson production in p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 5.02 and 8.16 TeV are also presented and discussed.