Understanding PDF uncertainty in W boson mass measurements*

Journal Article · 01 December 2022 · Chinese Physics C, High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-1137/ac930b · OSTI ID:1900277

Gao, Jun; Liu, Dianyu; Xie, Keping

Abstract We study the dependence of the transverse mass distribution of charged leptons and the missing energy on parton distributions (PDFs) adapted to W boson mass measurements at the CDF and ATLAS experiments. We compare the shape variations of the distribution induced by different PDFs and find that the spread of predictions from different PDF sets can be significantly larger than the PDF uncertainty predicted by a specific PDF set. We suggest analyzing the experimental data using up-to-date PDFs to gain a better understanding of the PDF uncertainties in W boson mass measurements. We also perform a series of Lagrange multiplier scans to identify the constraints on the transverse mass distribution imposed by individual data sets in the CT18 global analysis. In the case of the CDF measurement, the distribution is mostly sensitive to d -quark PDFs in the intermediate x region, which are largely constrained by DIS and Drell-Yan data on deuteron targets and Tevatron lepton charge asymmetry data.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0007914
• OSTI ID: 1900277
• Journal Information: Chinese Physics C, High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics, Journal Name: Chinese Physics C, High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 46; ISSN 1674-1137
• Publisher: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: China
• Language: English