We present the midrapidity charged pion invariant cross sections and the ratio of $\pi^-$-to-$\pi^+$ production ($5<p_T<13$ GeV/$c$), together with the double-helicity asymmetries ($5<p_T<12$ GeV/$c$) in polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. The cross section measurements are consistent with perturbative calculations in quantum chromodynamics within large uncertainties in the calculation due to the choice of factorization, renormalization, and fragmentation scales. However, the theoretical calculation of the ratio of $\pi^-$-to-$\pi^+$ production when considering these scale uncertainties overestimates the measured value, suggesting further investigation of the uncertainties on the charge-separated pion fragmentation functions is needed. Due to cancellations of uncertainties in the charge ratio, direct inclusion of these ratio data in future parameterizations should improve constraints on the flavor dependence of quark fragmentation functions to pions. By measuring charge-separated pion asymmetries, one can gain sensitivity to the sign of $\Delta G$ through the opposite sign of the up and down quark helicity distributions in conjunction with preferential fragmentation of positive pions from up quarks and negative pions from down quarks. The double-helicity asymmetries presented are sensitive to the gluon helicity distribution over an $x$ range of $\sim$0.03--0.16.
Measurements are presented of electroweak boson production using data from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $ \sqrt{s}=8 $ TeV. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 2.0 fb$^{−1}$ recorded with the LHCb detector. The bosons are identified in the W → μν and Z → μ$^{+}$ μ$^{−}$ decay channels. The cross-sections are measured for muons in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < η < 4.5, with transverse momenta p$_{T}$ > 20 GeV/c and, in the case of the Z boson, a dimuon mass within $ 60 < {M}_{\mu }{{{}_{{}^{+}}}_{\mu}}_{{}^{-}}<120 $ GeV/c$^{2}$. The results are $ {\sigma}_W{{}_{{}^{+}}}_{\to \mu }{{}_{{}^{+}}}_{\nu }=1093.6\pm 2.1\pm 7.2\pm 10.9\pm 12.7\ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{b}, $ $ {\sigma}_W{{}_{{}^{-}}}_{\to \mu }{{}_{{}^{-}}}_{\overline{\nu}}=818.4\pm 1.9\pm 5.0\pm 7.0\pm 9.5\ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{b}, $ $ {\sigma}_{\mathrm{Z}\to \mu }{{{}_{{}^{+}}}_{\mu}}_{{}^{-}}=95.0\pm 0.3\pm 0.7\pm 1.1\pm 1.1\ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{b}, $ $ {\sigma}_{Z\to \mu }{{{}_{{}^{+}}}_{\mu}}_{{}^{-}}=95.0\pm 0.3\pm 0.7\pm 1.1\pm 1.1\ \mathrm{p}\mathrm{b}, $ where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, the third are due to the knowledge of the LHC beam energy and the fourth are due to the luminosity determination. The evolution of the W and Z boson cross-sections with centre-of-mass energy is studied using previously reported measurements with 1.0 fb$^{−1}$ of data at 7 TeV. Differential distributions are also presented. Results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
A measurement of the production cross-section for Z bosons that decay to muons is presented. The data were recorded by the LHCb detector during pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{−1}$. The cross-section is measured for muons in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < η < 4.5 with transverse momenta p$_{T}$ > 20 GeV/c. The dimuon mass is restricted to 60 < M$_{μ}$ +$_{μ}$ − < 120 GeV/c$^{2}$. The measured cross-section is $ {\sigma}_{Z\to \mu }{+}_{\mu }-=\left(76.0\pm 0.3\pm 0.5\pm 1.0\pm 1.3\right)\mathrm{p}\mathrm{b} $
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