The W boson helicity fractions from top quark decays in t t-bar events are measured using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data were collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. Events are reconstructed with either one muon or one electron, along with four jets in the final state, with two of the jets being identified as originating from b quarks. The measured helicity fractions from both channels are combined, yielding F[0] = 0.681 +/- 0.012 (stat) +/- 0.023 (syst), F[L] = 0.323 +/- 0.008 (stat) +/- 0.014 (syst), and F[R] = -0.004 +/- 0.005 (stat) +/- 0.014 (syst) for the longitudinal, left-, and right-handed components of the helicity, respectively. These measurements of the W boson helicity fractions are the most accurate to date and they agree with the predictions from the standard model.
Measurement of the W longitudinal (F0), left- (FL) and righ- (FR) components of the boson helicity fractions from electron+jets final states in top quark pair decays. The helicity fractions F0 and FL are measured simultaneously and are strongly anti-correlated, with statistical correlation coefficient -0.950.
Measurement of the W longitudinal (F0), left- (FL) and righ- (FR) components of the boson helicity fractions from muon+jets final states in top quark pair decays. The helicity fractions F0 and FL are measured simultaneously and are strongly anti-correlated, with statistical correlation coefficient -0.957.
Measurement of the W longitudinal (F0), left- (FL) and righ- (FR) components of the boson helicity fractions from lepton+jets final states in top quark pair decays. The helicity fractions F0 and FL are measured simultaneously and are strongly anti-correlated, with statistical correlation coefficient -0.959, and total correlation, considering both statistical and systematic uncertainties, of -0.87.
A measurement of the W boson helicity is presented, where the W boson originates from the decay of a top quark produced in pp collisions. The event selection, optimized for reconstructing a single top quark in the final state, requires exactly one isolated lepton (muon or electron) and exactly two jets, one of which is likely to originate from the hadronization of a bottom quark. The analysis is performed using data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2012. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measured helicity fractions are F[L] = 0.298 +/- 0.028 (stat) +\- 0.032 (syst), F[0] = 0.720 +/- 0.039 (stat) +/- 0.037 (syst), and F[R] = -0.018 +/- 0.019 (stat) +/- 0.011 (syst). These results are used to set limits on the real part of the tWb anomalous couplings, gL and gR.
Measurement of the W helicity fractions using the cos(theta*l) distribution in the muon channel. The helicity fractions corresponding to the longitudinal (F0) and left-handed (FL) polarizations are extracted from the fit while FR is obtained from the constraint of FL+FR+F0 = 1. The statistical correlation between the fit parameters is about -0.90.
Measurement of the W helicity fractions using the cos(theta*l) distribution in the electron channel. The helicity fractions corresponding to the longitudinal (F0) and left-handed (FL) polarizations are extracted from the fit while FR is obtained from the constraint of FL+FR+F0 = 1. The statistical correlation between the fit parameters is about -0.90.
Measurement of the W helicity fractions using the cos(theta*l) distribution in both electron and muon channels. The helicity fractions corresponding to the longitudinal (F0) and left-handed (FL) polarizations are extracted from the combined fit while FR is obtained from the constraint of FL+FR+F0 = 1. The total correlation between the fit parameters is about -0.80.