Electroweak bosons in Pb+Pb and $p$+Pb collisions

Electroweak boson ( W , Z , γ ) measurements in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV and in p +Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV are presented with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. In Pb+Pb, electroweak boson yields are shown to be independent of centrality. Differential measurements in absolute pseudorapidity are used to investigate nuclear effects to the free-proton parton distribution function (PDF). The distributions lack the experimental precision to unambiguously identify the presence of nuclear modifications. In p +Pb, the Z boson cross section is measured as a function of center-of-mass rapidity yZ⁎ and the momentum fraction of the lead-going parton (Bjorken xPb ). The distributions are asymmetric and model predictions underestimate the data at large xPb . The overall shape is best described by including nuclear effects. The differential cross section is also measured in different centrality classes and shows evidence of spatially-dependent nuclear PDFs. The Z boson production yields are measured as a function of the mean number of participants using Glauber and Glauber-Gribov color fluctuation models. Binary scaling of the yields is observed utilizing the standard Glauber model after applying a centrality-bias correction.