Measurement of the angular distribution of electrons from W ---> e neutrino decays observed in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.8-TeV

The D0 collaboration Abbott, B. ; Abolins, M. ; Abramov, V. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.D 63 (2001) 072001, 2001.
Inspire Record 533572 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.41717

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.

1 data table match query

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.