Measurement of the Z boson transverse momentum spectrum on ATLAS with early data

One of the benchmark analyses to be performed with the first data at the CERN Large Hadron Collider will be the measurement of the Z boson transverse momentum spectrum. In this article, I present a prospective analysis for this measurement in the dimuon channel on the ATLAS experiment. The analysis uses simulated datasets at a center-of-mass energy of 10 TeV. After summarizing the motivations for the measurement, I discuss the Z boson selection criteria, possible physics backgrounds, and background removal techniques with a focus on data-driven background determination. I conclude with an outlook toward the collision data expected in 2009-10.