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LHC proton-proton collisions at a centre of mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7 TeV were observed in 2011. From a 1.68 fb$^{-1}$ sample of the data collected using the ATLAS detector, electron-positron pairs originating from the Drell-Yan process were selected using a cut based analysis. After the selection process, an estimate of the background was determined followed by the selection efficiency, detector resolution, reconstruction efficiency, and kinematic acceptance. Using these, the Drell-Yan differential cross section was calculated as a function of invariant mass between 26 and 66 GeV/c$^2$. This measurement has a precision between 12.4\% and 8.01\% from the lower invariant mass bins to the higher ones. The Drell-Yan cross section in proton-proton collisions depends on empirical quantities known as parton distribution functions which parametrize the structure of the proton. The measurement outlined in this thesis observes a region in parton distribution function phase space previously untouched by experiments. / Graduate

Since the discovery in the 1960's that the proton is not a fundamental particle but instead composed of even smaller particles known as quarks and gluons, there has been a concerted effort to understand the proton's internal structure. There still remain many mysteries about the proton and the theory that describes the interactions within: Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The distributions of quarks and gluons are encoded in objects known as parton correlation functions. Physicists use high-energy scattering experiments to access these functions by means of QCD factorization. This process of extracting information is known as a global QCD analysis. Further insight can be gained through first-principles calculations in lattice QCD as well as models for the strong interaction. In this thesis, we will use global QCD analyses to provide information on the one-dimensional (1D) structure of the proton using the latest experimental data available. Among the mysteries that remain within the proton, we provide insight on the non-perturbative nature of the proton's sea quarks, for both cases where the proton is unpolarized and longitudinally polarized. We also bring new information on the "proton spin puzzle," which concerns the delegation of the proton's spin into its constituent quarks and gluons. We shed light on the proton's transversely polarized structure, where current results from global QCD analyses and lattice QCD fail to paint a consistent picture. Our analyses also reveal a new feature of nuclear effects within light, highly asymmetric nuclei such as helium and tritium. Finally, we perform derivations in a spectator diquark model to glean information on the proton's 3D structure, and calculate moments that can be used in future lattice QCD studies. / Physics

Uncertainties on the parton distribution functions (PDFs), in particular those of the valence quarks, can be constrained at LHC energies using the charge asymmetry in the production of W^± bosons. This thesis presents a measurement of the electron channel, lepton charge asymmetry using 497 pb^-1 of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in 2011. The measurement is included in PDF fits using the machinery of HERAPDF and is found to have some constraining power beyond that of existing W charge asymmetry measurements.

This thesis presents the measurement of the inclusive jet cross section using data collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector, with a particular focus on the reconstruction and calibration techniques used for jets in this measurement and on the estimate of the systematic uncertainty on their energy scale. The inclusive jet cross section measurement is used as input to fits of parton distribution functions. Although the PDF analysis in this thesis is preliminary and its main purpose is to serve as a proof of principle for future studies, improvements in the knowledge of the gluon density are observed thanks to the inclusion of ATLAS data.

Neutral current Drell-Yan production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC was studied with the ATLAS detector. The 20.1 inverse femtobarn data set used in this precision measurement was collected in 2012 during which the LHC collided protons at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The production rate or differential cross-section was measured in three-dimensions: invariant mass, absolute rapidity, and cosine of the polar angle in the Collins-Soper frame. A measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry was obtained from the differential cross-section by summing over the forward and the backward events and taking their difference. The three-dimensional differential cross-section measurement presented in this dissertation can be used to constrain the invariant mass- and rapidity-dependent parton distribution functions of the proton and the forward-backward asymmetry results can be used to extract a measurement of the weak mixing angle. / Graduate

This dissertation presents muon charge asymmetry, fiducial differential cross section and CMS single muon trigger efficiency measurements as a function of muon pseudorapidity for inclusive W→μν events produced in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The data were recorded by the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 18.8 fb-1. Several comparisons are performed to cross-check the experimental results. Muon efficiency measurements are compared to estimated values from Monte Carlo simulations and reference values recommended by CMS physics object groups. The differential cross section and the charge asymmetry measurements are compared to theoretical predictions based on next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order QCD calculations with different PDF models. Inputs from the charge asymmetry and the differential cross section measurements for the determination of the next generation of PDF sets are expected to bring different predictions closer together and aid in reducing PDF uncertainties. The impact of the charge asymmetry on PDFs has been investigated by putting the asymmetry results into a QCD analysis at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-leading order with inclusive deep-inelastic scattering data from HERA. Significant improvement of the accuracy on the valence-quark distributions is observed. This measurement is recommended for more accurate constraints in future PDF determinations. More precise measurements of PDFs will improve LHC predictions.

In this work we present the basic theoretical concepts of the description of the nucleon spin structure. The theoretical background of two processes of interest - Semi-inclusive DIS and Drell-Yan - in the terms of Transverse Momentum De- pendent Parton distribution Functions is presented. The COMPASS experiment and particularly its unique polarised target are described in detail. Several target related measurements are presented. The express analysis and detector efficien- cies analysis are presented as examples of important hardware related analysis. Finally two measurements of Transverse Spin Asymmetries are presented. The first measurement is the measurement of the Transverse Spin Asymmetries in J/ψ production in the Semi-inclusive DIS on polarised protons. The second mea- surement is the measurement of Transverse Spin Asymmetries in J/ψ in the π− p polarised Drell-Yan data. 1

Über einen Mellinraumzugang werden Methoden zur Auswertung von Wirkunsquerschnitten für verschiedene Prozesse mit Hadronen im Anfangszustand entwickelt. Die Arbeit geschieht im Hinblick auf drei Prozesse, für die die analyischen Ergebnisse für perturbative QCD Korrekturen zu “next-to-next-to-leading order” bekannt sind; diese sind: die Produktion der Vektorbosonen Z0 und W± über einen Drell-Yan-Prozess in der “narrow width”-Näherung, die Produktion eines Standardmodell-Higgs-Bosons über die Fusion zweier Gluonen im Grenzfall schwerer Top-Quark-Massen und die tiefinelastische Lepton-Hadron-Streuung über neutrale und geladene Ströme. Die Implementierung der Mellinraumtechniken erfolgt in dem c++ Paket sbp. Das Programm ermöglicht auf elegante Weise eine schnelle und präzise Auswertung von inklusiven Wirkungsquerschnitten. Wir vergleichen sbp mit den herkömmlichen Impulsraumtechniken, und präsentieren Studien der asymptotischen Konvergenz den perturbativen Reihen und von Skalenabhängigkeiten. Als Anwendung untersuchen wir welchen Einfluss die Behandlung der Faktorisierungs- und Renormierungsskala auf den Wirkungsquerschnitt hat. / In this thesis we will explore a Mellin space approach to the evaluation of precision cross-sections at hadron colliders. We consider three processes with known analytic results for perturbative QCD corrections up to the next-to-next-to-leading order, namely: the production of vector bosons Z0, W± via the Drell-Yan mechanism in the narrow width approximation; the production of the standard model Higgs boson via gluon-gluon fusion using the large top quark mass limit and the neutral and charged current deep inelastic lepton-hadron scattering. We develop a c++ package sbp that implements the Mellin space technique. The resulting program provides an elegant, fast and accurate solution for the evaluation of inclusive cross sections. We compare our program with available results that use standard momentum space techniques. We present studies of asymptotic convergence and scale dependence of the perturbative series. We use the package to study different treatments of factorisation and renormalisation scales in cross sections.

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Berechnung von für die Struktur des Nukleons relevanten Observablen, die experimentell durch inklusive und semi-inklusive Streuexperimente bestimmt werden können. Es werden zwei Pilotstudien erörtert, welche die Spin- und Impulsstruktur des Nukleons mithilfe von Gitter-QCD untersuchen. Hierfür wird der Twisted-Mass-Formalismus mit dynamischen Fermionen verwendet, um sicherzustellen, dass die untersuchten Größen einen verbesserten Kontinuumslimes aufweisen. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit untersucht die Umsetzbarkeit einer Rechnung, die sich mit dem durchschnittlichen Impulsanteil der Gluonen im Nukleon auseinandersetzt. Diese Größe wurde bisher kaum im Rahmen der Gitter-QCD behandelt. In diesem Zusammenhang werden zwei verschiedene Gittermethoden untersucht: das Feynman-Hellman-Theorem, sowie die direkte Berechnung der relevanten Formfaktoren. Mithilfe der zweiten Methode und mehreren Iterationen des Schmierens der Eichlinks ist es möglich, statistisch aussagekräftige Resultate zu erhalten. Die zweite Studie beschäftigt sich mit der direkten Berechnung der vollständigen Impuls- und Spinverteilung von Quarks und Antiquarks im Nukleon. Hierfür wird untersucht, ob eine kürzlich publizierte Methode praktikabel ist, nach der eine räumliche Quasiverteilung zu berechnen und aus dieser die physikalische Verteilung abzuleiten ist. In diesem Zusammenhang wird der Einfluß des Schmierens der Eichlinks und unterschiedlicher Impulsboosts des Nukleons erprobt. Die anschließend berechneten Isovektor-Quarkverteilungen (unpolarisiert und polarisiert) weisen eine gute qualitative Übereinstimmung mit Verteilungen auf, die mithilfe von phänomenologischen Analysen bestimmt wurden. Zentrale Erkenntnis dieser Arbeit ist der Nachweis, dass es auf dem Gitter prinzipiell möglich ist, beide Observablen zu berechnen. Trotzdem muss noch erheblich mehr Arbeit aufgewendet werden, um verlässliche Resultate für diese Größen zu erhalten. / This thesis deals with the theoretical computation of nucleon structure observables as they can be experimentally obtained from inclusive and semi-inclusive scattering experiments. I present two exploratory studies on spin and momentum structure observables of the nucleon in the framework of lattice QCD. Throughout this work, I use the twisted mass formalism with dynamical fermions at maximal twist, which ensures an improved continuum limit scaling for the relevant quantities. In the first part, I investigate the feasibility of a lattice calculation of the gluons’ average momentum fraction in the nucleon, a quantity that is rarely studied in lattice QCD. For this purpose, I study two different methods, namely the Feynman-Hellman theorem and the direct computation of the relevant form factor. Applying the latter method and combining it with several steps of stout gauge link smearing, I obtain a statistically significant results for the gluon content. The second study is concerned with the direct computation of the full momentum and spin distribution of quarks and antiquarks within the nucleon. I investigate the feasibility of a recently published approach proposing the computation of a purely spatial quasi-distribution that can be related to the physical distribution. I test the influence of gauge link smearing and different nucleon momentum boosts on the lattice data. Ultimately, I obtain iso-vector quark distributions for the unpolarized and polarize case that featuring a decent qualitative agreement to quark distributions acquired from phenomenological fits. As a key result of this work, I demonstrate that the demanding calculation of gluon content and the novel approach of computing quark distributions directly within lattice QCD are feasible in principle, although significantly more effort has to be invested into obtaining accurate results with reliable uncertainties.