$Z$ boson production in $p+$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

Paper

$Z$ boson production in $p+$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

The ATLAS Collaboration has measured the inclusive production of

bosons via their decays into electron and muon pairs in

Pb collisions at

TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are made using data corresponding to integrated luminosities of 29.4 nb

and 28.1 nb

for

and

, respectively. The results from the two channels are consistent and combined to obtain a cross section times the

branching ratio, integrated over the rapidity region

, of 139.8

4.8 (stat.)

6.2 (syst.)

3.8 (lumi.) nb. Differential cross sections are presented as functions of the

boson rapidity and transverse momentum, and compared with models based on parton distributions both with and without nuclear corrections. The centrality dependence of

boson production in

Pb collisions is measured and analyzed within the framework of a standard Glauber model and the model's extension for fluctuations of the underlying nucleon-nucleon scattering cross section.