W and Z boson production in p-Pb collisions at s N N = 5.02 $$ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 $$ TeV

The W and Z boson production was measured via the muonic decay channel in proton-lead collisions at $$ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 $$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider with the ALICE detector. The measurement covers backward (−4.46 < y cms < −2.96) and forward (2.03 < y cms < 3.53) rapidity regions, corresponding to Pb-going and p-going directions, respectively. The Z-boson production cross section, with dimuon invariant mass of 60 < m μμ < 120 GeV/c 2 and muon transverse momentum (p T ) larger than 20 GeV/c, is measured. The production cross section and charge asymmetry of muons from W-boson decays with p T > 10 GeV/c are determined. The results are compared to theoretical calculations both with and without including the nuclear modification of the parton distribution functions. The W-boson production is also studied as a function of the collision centrality: the cross section of muons from W-boson decays is found to scale with the average number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions within uncertainties.