Left-handed W bosons at the LHC

in Physical Review. D (2011), 84(3), 034008

The production of W bosons in association with jets is an important background to new physics at the LHC. Events in which the W carries large transverse momentum and decays leptonically lead to large ... [more ▼]

The production of W bosons in association with jets is an important background to new physics at the LHC. Events in which the W carries large transverse momentum and decays leptonically lead to large missing energy and are of particular importance. We show that the left-handed nature of the W coupling, combined with valence quark domination at a pp machine, leads to a large left-handed polarization for both W+ and W- bosons at large transverse momenta. The polarization fractions are very stable with respect to QCD corrections. The leptonic decay of the W± bosons translates the common left-handed polarization into a strong asymmetry in transverse momentum distributions between positrons and electrons and between neutrinos and antineutrinos (missing transverse energy). Such asymmetries may provide an effective experimental handle on separating W+jets from top-quark production, which exhibits very little asymmetry due to C invariance, and from various types of new physics. [less ▲]