We report measurements of single- and double- spin asymmetries for $W^{\pm}$ and $Z/\gamma^*$ boson production in longitudinally polarized $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 510$ GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The asymmetries for $W^{\pm}$ were measured as a function of the decay lepton pseudorapidity, which provides a theoretically clean probe of the proton's polarized quark distributions at the scale of the $W$ mass. The results are compared to theoretical predictions, constrained by recent polarized deep inelastic scattering measurements, and show a preference for a sizable, positive up antiquark polarization in the range $0.05<x<0.2$.
$E_T^e$ distribution of $W^{\pm}$ candidate events, background contributions, and sum of backgrounds and W -> ev MC signal. This plot is for Electron |eta|<0.5.
$E_T^e$ distribution of $W^{\pm}$ candidate events, background contributions, and sum of backgrounds and W -> ev MC signal. This plot is for Electron 0.5<|eta|<1.1.
$E_T^e$ distribution of $W^{\pm}$ candidate events, background contributions, and sum of backgrounds and W -> ev MC signal. This plot is for Positron |eta|<0.5.
A search is conducted for non-resonant new phenomena in dielectron and dimuon final states, originating from either contact interactions or large extra spatial dimensions. The LHC 2012 proton-proton collision dataset recorded by the ATLAS detector is used, corresponding to 20 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. The dilepton invariant mass spectrum is a discriminating variable in both searches, with the contact interaction search additionally utilizing the dilepton forward-backward asymmetry. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectation are observed. Lower limits are set on the $\ell\ell q q$ contact interaction scale $\Lambda$ between 15.4 TeV and 26.3 TeV, at the 95% credibility level. For large extra spatial dimensions, lower limits are set on the string scale $M_{S}$ between 3.2 TeV to 5.0 TeV.
Reconstructed dielectron mass distributions for data and the SM background estimate.
Reconstructed dimuon mass distributions for data and the SM background estimate.
Reconstructed $\cos\theta^*$ distributions for data and the SM background estimate in the dielectron channel.
Forum