First Run II Measurement of the W Boson Mass

Understand

We describe a measurement of the W boson mass mW using 200/pb of root-s = 1.96 TeV p-pbar collision data taken with the CDF II detector.

• With a sample of 63,964 W -> e nu candidates and 51,128 W -> mu nu candidates, we measure mW = [80.413 +- 0.034 (stat) +- 0.034 (sys) = 80.413 +- 0.048] GeV/c^2.
• This is the single most precise mW measurement to date.
• When combined with other measured electroweak parameters, this result further constrains the properties of unobserved particles coupling to W and Z bosons.