A measurement of the electron charge asymmetry in inclusive pp to W + X to e nu + X production at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented based on data recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 840 inverse picobarns. The electron charge asymmetry reflects the unequal production of positive and negative W bosons in pp collisions. The electron charge asymmetry is measured in bins of absolute value of electron pseudorapidity in the range of abs(eta) < 2.4. The asymmetry rises from about 0.1 to 0.2 as a function of the pseudorapidity and is measured with a relative precision better than 7%. This measurement provides new stringent constraints for parton distribution functions.
Summary of the measured charge asymmetry results. The first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The theoretical predictions are obtained using MCFM interfaced with four different PDF models. The PDF uncertainties are estimated using the PDF reweighting technique. All values are in units of $10^{-3}$.
Covariance matrix for the systematic uncertainties on the asymmetry. All values are given in units of $10^{-6}$.
Forum