Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in $Z/\gamma^{\ast} \rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ decays and determination of the effective weak mixing angle

Abstract

The forward-backward charge asymmetry for the process $q\bar{q} \rightarrow Z/\gamma^{\ast} \rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ is measured as a function of the invariant mass of the dimuon system. Measurements are performed using proton proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and 8\tev, corresponding to integrated luminosities of $1$fb$^{-1}$ and $2$fb$^{-1}$ respectively. Within the Standard Model the results constrain the effective electroweak mixing angle to be $$sin^{2}\theta_{W}^{eff} = 0.23142 \pm 0.00073 \pm 0.00052 \pm 0.00056 $$ Show more