Measurement of the transverse momentum distribution of W bosons in $pp$ collisions at √s=7  TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the W boson transverse momentum distribution using ATLAS $pp$ collision data from the 2010 run of the LHC at √s=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 31 pb⁻¹. Events form both $W→𝑒⁢𝜈$ and $W→𝜇⁢𝜈$ are used, and the transverse momentum of the 𝑊 candidates is measured through the energy deposition in the calorimeter from the recoil of the W. The resulting distributions are unfolded to obtain the normalized differential cross sections as a function of the 𝑊 boson transverse momentum. We present results for pWT<300 GeV in the electron and muon channels as well as for their combination, and compare the combined results to the predictions of perturbative QCD and a selection of event generators.