1. Strange quark parton distribution functions and implications for Drell-Yan boson production at the LHC
- Author
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Tomáš Ježo, Ji-Young Yu, K. Park, T. Stavreva, A. Kusina, I. Schienbein, F. I. Olness, K. Kovařík, S. Berge, Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), and Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Quark ,Quantum chromodynamics ,Physics ,Nuclear and High Energy Physics ,Particle physics ,Gauge boson ,Strange quark ,Large Hadron Collider ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,High Energy Physics::Lattice ,Nuclear Theory ,High Energy Physics::Phenomenology ,Down quark ,Drell–Yan process ,Parton ,01 natural sciences ,Nuclear physics ,[PHYS.HPHE]Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Phenomenology [hep-ph] ,0103 physical sciences ,High Energy Physics::Experiment ,Nuclear Experiment ,010306 general physics - Abstract
Global analyses of parton distribution functions (PDFs) have provided incisive constraints on the up and down quark components of the proton, but constraining the other flavor degrees of freedom is more challenging. Higher-order theory predictions and new data sets have contributed to recent improvements. Despite these efforts, the strange quark parton distribution function has a sizable uncertainty, particularly in the small $x$ region. We examine the constraints from experiment and theory, and investigate the impact of this uncertainty on LHC observables. In particular, we study $W/Z$ production to see how the $s$ quark uncertainty propagates to these observables, and examine the extent to which precise measurements at the LHC can provide additional information on the proton flavor structure.
- Published
- 2012
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