Impact of parity-violating deep-inelastic scattering on the weak mixing angle and high- x parton distributions
We discuss the impact of neutral current parity-violating deep-inelastic scattering (PVDIS) of electrons from protons and deuterons on the determination of the weak mixing angle, $\sin^{2}{θ_{\rm W}}$, and parton distribution functions (PDFs) at large parton momentum fractions $x$. Using the JAM global QCD analysis framework, we study the effect of incorporating pseudodata simulated for 11 GeV and 22 GeV Jefferson Lab kinematics, accounting for radiative corrections in a factorized QED+QCD approach and uncertainties from higher twist corrections in $γZ$ exchange. We find that including future PVDIS pseudodata could yield important constraints on the value of $\sin^{2}{θ_{\rm W}}$ at low $Q^2$ and on the high-$x$ behavior of the strange quark and $d/u$ PDF ratio. The strong correlation between $\sin^{2}{θ_{\rm W}}$ and the $x$ dependence of the PDFs demonstrates the necessity for simultaneous analysis of QCD and electroweak quantities to ensure an unbiased determination of the weak mixing angle from PVDIS data.
Authors
- W. Melnitchouk
- R. M. Whitehill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5007-2473)
- N Sato
- M. M. Dalton
- T. Liu
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/12x5-nwrh
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.55
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Oak Ridge Associated Universities
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Office of Science
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
- Nuclear Physics
- Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists