Z0 Boson Measurement with the ALICE Central Barrel in pp collisions at 14 TeV

Abstract

The possibility to detect the Z0 in the ALICE central barrel is studied via the electronic decay channel Z0->e+e-. The signal and the background are simulated with the leading order event generator PYTHIA 6. The total cross-sections are taken from NLO calculations. Based on test beam data, the electron identification performance of the Transition Radiation Detector is extrapolated to high momenta. The expected yields for minimum-bias pp collisions at 14 TeV are presented. An isolation cut on the single electron, together with a minimum transverse momentum cut, allows to obtain a clear signal. The expected background is of the order of 1 % with the main contribution coming from misidentified pions from jets.

4 pages, 3 figures, QM2008 proceedings