Prospects for the precision measurement of the W mass with the CMS detector at the LHC

The precise measurement of the mass of the W boson constitutes an important consistency check of the Standard Model and, together with the top quark mass, is sensitive to supersymmetric corrections. In this note, methods are presented which employ the large number of Z bosons produced at the LHC to significantly reduce theoretical and experimental uncertainties on the W mass measurement. A precision of about 40 MeV (20 MeV) with the first 1 fb −1 (10 fb −1 ) of integrated luminosity during the low luminosity run of the LHC is expected.