Glue constraining asymmetries in W, γ or Z production at CERN LHC †

We propose a class of forward-backward asymmetries with respect to the subprocess c.m. scattering angle in $V+\mathrm{jet}$ production at hadron colliders, with $V$ being any of $(W,Z,\ensuremath{\gamma},H),$ which are directly proportional to the gluon distribution $g(x).$ The information that these asymmetries can provide is complementary to that reachable from measurements of the transverse momentum and/or the rapidity distributions of a $V$ in kinematical regimes where gluon scattering subprocesses dominate. The accuracy which can be reached in the $W,$ $Z$ and \ensuremath{\gamma} cases, at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron and at CERN LHC, should allow a considerable improvement of our knowledge of the gluon distribution function, especially at large $x.$