Measurement of the left-right charge asymmetry in hadronic Z decays and A(sub e) determination

We present a new method for determining the electron left-right asymmetry factor, A(sub e), by measuring the forward-backward charge flow in samples of hadronic Z events, produced in e(+) e(-) collisions, with left-handed and right-handed electron-beam polarizations. The raw, left-right charge asymmetry, Q(sub LR)(sup raw), is defined. After correction by the measured beam polarization, it provides A(sub e) with greatly reduced dependence on Monte Carlo corrections for acceptances and jet charge measurement. The Q(sub LR)(sup raw) is also combined with the raw, left-right cross section asymmetry, A(sub LR)(sup raw), to obtain A(sub e) without the use of the measured electron-beam polarization, and with half the statistical error as that obtained for A(sub e) using the polarization corrected Q(sub LR)(sup raw) alone. This method gives sin(sup 2)theta(sub W)(sup eff) = 0.2291 +/- 0.0039(stat.) +/- 0.0012(syst.). The measurement was performed at a center-of-mass energy of 91.26 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC).