Optimisation of variables for studying dilepton transverse momentum distributions at hadron colliders

In future measurements of the dilepton (Z/gamma*) transverse momentum, Q(T), at both the Tevatron and LHC, the achievable bin widths and the ultimate precision of the measurements will be limited by experimental resolution rather than by the available event statistics. In a recent paper the variable a(T), which corresponds to the component of Q(T) that is transverse to the dilepton thrust axis, has been studied in this regard. In the region, Q(T) < 30 GeV, a(T) has been shown to be less susceptible to experimental resolution and efficiency effects than the Q(T). Extending over all Q(T), we now demonstrate that dividing aT ( or QT) by the measured dilepton invariant mass further improves the resolution. In addition, we propose a new variable, phi*(eta), that is determined exclusively from the measured lepton directions; this is even more precisely determined experimentally than the above variables and is similarly sensitive to the Q(T). The greater precision achievable using such variables will enable more stringent tests of QCD and tighter constraints on Monte Carlo event generator tunes.