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SLAC Publication: SLAC-PUB-14409
SLAC Release Date: May 20, 2011
Left-Handed W bosons at the LHC
Dixon, Lance.
The production of W bosons in association with jets is an important background to new physics at the LHC. Events in which the W carries large transverse momentum and decays leptonically lead to large missing energy and are of particular importance. We show that the left-handed nature of the W coupling, combined with valence quark domination at a pp machine, leads to a large left-handed polarization for both W+ and W? bosons at large transverse momenta. The polarization fractions are very stable ... Show Full Abstract
The production of W bosons in association with jets is an important background to new physics at the LHC. Events in which the W carries large transverse momentum and decays leptonically lead to large missing energy and are of particular importance. We show that the left-handed nature of the W coupling, combined with valence quark domination at a pp machine, leads to a large left-handed polarization for both W+ and W? bosons at large transverse momenta. The polarization fractions are very stable with respect to QCD corrections. The leptonic decay of the W bosons translates the common left-handed polarization into a strong asymmetry in transverse momentum distributions between positrons and electrons, and between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos (missing transverse energy). Such asymmetries may provide an effective experimental handle on separating W +jets from top quark production, which exhibits very little asymmetry due to C invariance, and from various types of new physics. Show Partial Abstract
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  • Interest Categories: HEP Phenomenology