Measurements of $W^+W^-$ production cross-sections in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration
Aad, Georges , Abbott, Braden Keim , Abeling, Kira , Abicht, Nils Julius , Abidi, Haider , Aboulhorma, Asmaa , Abramowicz, Halina , Abreu, Henso , Abulaiti, Yiming , Abusleme Hoffman, A.C.
JHEP 08 (2025) 142, 2025.

Abstract (data abstract)
Measurements of $W^+W^-\rightarrow e^\pm \nu \mu^\mp \nu$ production cross-sections are presented, providing a test of the predictions of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The measurements are based on data from $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015--2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The number of events due to top-quark pair production, the largest background, is reduced by rejecting events containing jets with $b$-hadron decays. An improved methodology for estimating the remaining top-quark background enables a precise measurement of $W^+W^-$ cross-sections with no additional requirements on jets. The fiducial $W^+W^-$ cross-section is determined in a maximum-likelihood fit with an uncertainty of 3.1%. The measurement is extrapolated to the full phase space, resulting in a total $W^+W^-$ cross-section of $127\pm4$ pb. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of twelve observables that comprehensively describe the kinematics of $W^+W^-$ events. The measurements are compared with state-of-the-art theory calculations and excellent agreement with predictions is observed. A charge asymmetry in the lepton rapidity is observed as a function of the dilepton invariant mass, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. A CP-odd observable is measured to be consistent with no CP violation. Limits on Standard Model effective field theory Wilson coefficients in the Warsaw basis are obtained from the differential cross-sections.

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