Measurements of the production of W$$^{\pm }$$ and Z$$^0$$ bosons in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ TeV

Abstract

Abstract Measurements of the production of the W $$^{\pm }$$ ± and Z $$^0$$ 0 bosons at midrapidity in pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13 TeV with ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented. The W $$^{\pm }$$ ± and Z $$^0$$ 0 bosons are detected via their (di)electronic decay channels, with the electron reconstruction performed in the midrapidity region $$(|y|< 0.6).$$ ( | y | < 0.6 ) . The $$p_{{\text {T}}}$$ p T -integrated and $$p_{\textrm{T}}$$ p T -differential production cross sections of electrons from W $$^{\pm }$$ ± decays in the interval $$30 30 < p T < 60 GeV/ c , as well as the $$p_{{\text {T}}}$$ p T -integrated production cross section of Z $$^0$$ 0 bosons, are measured. The results are described by perturbative QCD calculations using different sets of parton distribution functions. The production of W $$^{\pm }$$ ± bosons and azimuthally correlated associated hadrons is also measured as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity for the first time at the LHC. The former increases approximately linearly with the charged-particle multiplicity, while for the latter, there are hints of a faster-than-linear increase. These observations are compared with theoretical calculations .