Improving the Drell-Yan probe of small x partons at the LHC via a k(t) cut

Author(s)

de Oliveira, E. G. ^{[1, 2]} ; Martin, A. D. ^[1] ; Ryskin, M. G. ^{[1, 3]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Durham, Inst Particle Phys Phenomenol, Durham DH1 3LE - England

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Fis, BR-05315970 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] NRC Kurchatov Inst, Petersburg Nucl Phys Inst, St Petersburg 188300 - Russia

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL C; v. 73, n. 3 MAR 2013.
• Web of Science Citations: 5

Abstract

We show that the observation of the Drell-Yan production of low-mass lepton-pairs (M less than or similar to 20 GeV) at high rapidities (Y greater than or similar to 3) at the LHC can make a direct measurement of parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the low x region, x less than or similar to 10(-4). We describe a procedure that greatly reduces the sensitivity of the predictions to the choice of the factorization scale and, in particular, show how, by imposing a cutoff on the transverse momentum of the lepton-pair, the data are able to probe PDFs in the important low scale, low x domain. We include the effects of the Sudakov suppression factor. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/05469-4 - Timely phenomenological studies relevant to the LHC
• Grantee: Emmanuel Gräve de Oliveira
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor