Measurement of the $W$-boson angular coefficients and transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

The angular distributions of Drell-Yan lepton pairs provide sensitive probes of the underlying dynamics of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) effects in vector-boson production. This paper presents for the first time the measurement of the full set of angular coefficients together with the differential cross-section as a function of the transverse momentum of the $W$ boson, in the full phase space of the decay leptons. The measurements are performed separately for the $W^-$ and $W^+$ channels. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2017 and 2018, during special low-luminosity runs with a reduced number of interactions per bunch crossings (pile-up). The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 338 pb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV. The low pile-up environment provides excellent experimental conditions for high-precision measurements of $W$-boson production. All results agree with theoretical predictions incorporating finite-order QCD corrections up to order $\alpha_S^2$.