Strange quark parton distribution functions and implications for Drell-Yan boson production at the LHC

Global analyses of parton distribution functions (PDFs) have provided incisive constraints on the up and down quark components of the proton, but constraining the other flavor degrees of freedom is more challenging. Higher-order theory predictions and new data sets have contributed to recent improvements. Despite these efforts, the strange quark parton distribution function has a sizable uncertainty, particularly in the small $x$ region. We examine the constraints from experiment and theory, and investigate the impact of this uncertainty on LHC observables. In particular, we study $W/Z$ production to see how the $s$ quark uncertainty propagates to these observables, and examine the extent t…