Measurement of parity-violating spin asymmetries in W± production at midrapidity in longitudinally polarized p+p collisions

Abstract

We present midrapidity measurements from the PHENIX experiment of large parity-violating singlespin asymmetries of high transverse momentum electrons and positrons from W =Z decays, produced in longitudinally polarized p þ p collisions at center of mass energies of ffiffi s p ¼ 500 and 510 GeV. These asymmetries allow direct access to the antiquark polarized parton distribution functions due to the parityviolating nature of the W-boson coupling to quarks and antiquarks. The results presented are based on data collected in 2011, 2012, and 2013 with an integrated luminosity of 240 pb−1, which exceeds previous PHENIX published results by a factor of more than 27. These high Q2 data probe the parton structure of the proton at W mass scale and provide an important addition to our understanding of the antiquark parton helicity distribution functions at an intermediate Bjorken x value of roughly MW= ffiffi s p ¼ 0.16.