We present the first measurement of the electron angular distribution parameter alpha_2 in W to e nu events produced in proton-antiproton collisions as a function of the W boson transverse momentum. Our analysis is based on data collected using the D0 detector during the 1994--1995 Fermilab Tevatron run. We compare our results with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD, which predicts an angular distribution of (1 +/- alpha_1 cos theta* + alpha_2 cos^2 theta*), where theta* is the polar angle of the electron in the Collins-Soper frame. In the presence of QCD corrections, the parameters alpha_1 and alpha_2 become functions of p_T^W, the W boson transverse momentum. This measurement provides a test of next-to-leading order QCD corrections which are a non-negligible contribution to the W boson mass measurement.
Angular distributions of the emitted charged lepton is fitted to the formula d(sig)/d(pt**2)/dy/d(cos(theta*)) = const*(1 +- alpha_1*cos(theta*) + alpha_2*(cos(theta*))**2). The angle theta* is measured in the Collins-Soper frame. alpha_1 velues are calculated based on the measured PT(W) of each event. Possible variations of alpha_1 are treated as a source of systematic uncertainty.
We report a measurement of the differential cross section for W boson production as a function of its transverse momentum in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV. The data were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during 1994-1995 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 85 pb^{-1}. The results are in good agreement with quantum chromodynamics over the entire range of transverse momentum.
Measurement of the PT distribution of W boson production for the W --> e nuchannel. The nominal PT is where the predicted function equals its mean value o ver the bin.
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