A measurement of W boson production in lead lead collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV is presented. It is based on the analysis of data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2011 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.14 nb−1 and 0.15 nb−1 in the muon and electron decay channels, respectively. The differential production yields and lepton charge asymmetry are each measured as a function of the average number of participating nucleons and absolute pseudorapidity of the charged lepton. The results are compared to predictions based on next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. These measurements are, in principle, sensitive to possible nuclear modifications to the parton distribution functions and also provide information on scaling of W boson production in multi-nucleon systems.

Aad, G., Abbott, B., Abdallah, J., Abdel Khalek, S., Abdinov, O., Aben, R., et al. (2015). Measurement of the production and lepton charge asymmetry of W bosons in Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector. THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. C, PARTICLES AND FIELDS, 75(1), 1-30 [10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-3231-6].

Measurement of the production and lepton charge asymmetry of W bosons in Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector

V. Bortolotto;F. Ceradini;B. Di Micco;R. Di Nardo;D. Orestano;F. Petrucci;