Measurement of the W boson helicity in events with a single reconstructed top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=8 TeV

The CMS collaboration Khachatryan, Vardan ; Sirunyan, Albert M ; Tumasyan, Armen ; et al.
JHEP 01 (2015) 053, 2015.
Inspire Record 1320561 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.66567

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.

3 data tables

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.


Measurement of the W-boson helicity in top-quark decays from ttbar production in lepton+jets events in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

The CMS collaboration Chatrchyan, Serguei ; Khachatryan, Vardan ; Sirunyan, Albert M ; et al.
JHEP 10 (2013) 167, 2013.
Inspire Record 1249595 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.64900

The W-boson helicity fractions in top-quark decays are measured with ttbar events in the lepton+jets final state, using proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, collected in 2011 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarns. The measured fractions of longitudinal, left-, and right-handed helicity are F0 = 0.682 +/- 0.030 (stat.) +/- 0.033 (syst.), FL = 0.310 +/- 0.022 (stat.) +/- 0.022 (syst.), and FR = 0.008 +/- 0.012 (stat.) +/- 0.014 (syst.), consistent with the standard model predictions. The measured fractions are used to probe the existence of anomalous Wtb couplings. Exclusion limits on the real components of the anomalous couplings gL, gR are also derived.

3 data tables

Measurements of the W-boson helicity fractions from the cos(theta*) (leptonic branch) distributions. The columns show the fit type, the decay channel, and the measurement of each helicity parameter, together with the statistical and systematic uncertainties. For the 3D fits, the last column presents the statistical correlation between F_0 and F_L, while for the 2D fit, total anticorrelation (F_L=1-F_0) is assumed.

Measurements of the W-boson helicity fractions from the cos(theta*) (leptonic branch) and |cos^(had) theta*| (hadronic branch) distributions. The columns show the fit type, the decay channel, and the measurement of each helicity parameter, together with the statistical and systematic uncertainties. For the 3D fits, the last column presents the statistical correlation between F_0 and F_L, while for the 2D fit, total anticorrelation (F_L=1-F_0) is assumed.

The combined helicity fractions and their uncertainties, including the type of fit performed, the channels (l=e,mu combination) and branches of the t tbar system ("l" for leptonic, cos(theta*), and "h" for hadronic, |cos^had theta*, used in the combination, as well as the total correlation between F_0 and F_L.