Determination of the W-boson mass at hadron colliders

Abstract

AbstractWe introduce an observable relevant for the determination of the W-boson mass $$m_W$$ m W at hadron colliders. This observable is defined as an asymmetry around the jacobian peak of the charged-lepton transverse-momentum distribution in the charged-current Drell–Yan process. We discuss the observable’s theoretical prediction, presenting results at different orders in QCD, and showing its perturbative stability. Its definition as a single scalar number and its linear sensitivity to $$m_W$$ m W allow a clean extraction of the latter and a straightforward discussion of the associated theoretical systematics: a perturbative QCD uncertainty of $${{{\mathcal {O}}}}(\pm 5)$$ O ( ± 5 ) MeV on $$m_W$$ m W can be established by means of this observable, relying solely on charged-current Drell–Yan information. Owing to its relatively inclusive nature, the observable displays desirable properties also from the experimental viewpoint, especially for the unfolding of detector effects. We show that a measurement of this observable can lead to a competitive experimental error on $$m_W$$ m W at the LHC.