How to observe hadronic decays of W^± and Z⁰ at hadron colliders

A method is described to observe two-jet hadronic decays of W^± and Z⁰ at hadron colliders such as the Fermilab Tevatron. The method will allow the rather accurately known masses of W and Z to be used as benchmarks to calibrate both the detector and the QCD Monte Carlo model of hadron shower development. It will also provide an independent, though not precise, measurement of M_W-M_Z. The method is based on suppressing the large QCD background by means of a cut on the decay angle of the W or Z, a cut on the p_T of the two-jet system, and a cut on the form of the jets observed in a calorimeter detector, to remove gluons. Along with reducing the background, these cuts significantly improve the jet+jet mass resolution. A simple trigger signature is described that can be used to avoid recording unnecessarily many background events.