Speaker
Prof.
Bernd Surrow
(MIT)
Description
The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National
Laboratory is carrying out a spin physics program in high-energy polarized proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200\,$GeV and $\sqrt{s}=500\,$GeV
to gain a deeper insight into the spin structure and
dynamics of the proton.
The completion of the first $\sqrt{s}=500\,$GeV polarized proton run in 2009 opened a new era of spin-flavor
structure measurements from $W^{-(+)}$ boson production.
$W^{-(+)}$ bosons are produced in $\bar{u}+d\,(\bar{d}+u)$ collisions and can be detected through
their leptonic decays, $e^{-}+\bar{\nu}_{e}\;(e^{+}+\nu_{e})$, where only the respective charged lepton is measured.
The discrimination of $\bar{u}+d\;(\bar{d}+u)$ quark combinations requires distinguishing between high $p_{T}$ $e^{-(+)}$
through their opposite charge sign, which in turn requires precise tracking information.
Recent published STAR results on the first measurement of $W^{-}/W^{+}$ and $Z$ boson production
will be shown.
The STAR experiment has recently started the installation of the Forward GEM Tracker to enhance
the charge separation of high $p_{T}$ $e^{-(+)}$ at forward pseudorapidities and will begin the commissioning of this new tracking system
during the upcoming 2012 running period. The status of the Forward GEM Tracker along with a discussion of future prospects
will be presented.
Primary author
Prof.
Bernd Surrow
(MIT)
