Impact of PVDIS on the weak mixing angle and high-$x$ parton distributions

6 May 2026, 17:10
20m
Sala IMPERIALE A, First Floor (Hotel Carlton)

Sala IMPERIALE A, First Floor

Hotel Carlton

Talk WG1 Structure Functions and Parton Densities WG1 Structure functions and parton densities

Speaker

Richard Whitehill (Old Dominion University / Jefferson Lab)

Description

We discuss the impact of neutral current parity-violating deep-inelastic scattering of electrons from proton and deuterium targets, planned in future measurements at Jefferson Lab, on the determination of the weak mixing angle, $\sin^2\theta_W$, and PDFs at large parton momentum fractions $x$. Using the JAM global QCD analysis framework, we perform a new analysis incorporating data simulated at 11 and 22~GeV Jefferson Lab kinematics, accounting for radiative corrections in a factorized QED+QCD approach and uncertainties from higher twists in $\gamma Z$ exchange. We find that including future $A_{\rm PV}$ data could yield important constraints on the value of $\sin^2\theta_W$ at low $Q^2$ and the high-$x$ behavior of the strange quark PDF and the $d/u$ PDF ratio. Furthermore, the weak correlation between $\sin^2\theta_W$ and the $x$ dependence of the PDFs indicates that $A_{\rm PV}$ data can provide a robust determination of the weak mixing angle in a global QCD analysis.

Speaker confirmation Yes

Authors

Dr Nobuo Sato Richard Whitehill (Old Dominion University / Jefferson Lab) Dr Wally Melnitchouk

Presentation materials