First measurements of the W -> lnu and Z/gamma* -> ll (l = e, mu) production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are presented using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The results are based on 2250 W -> lnu and 179 Z/gamma* -> ll candidate events selected from a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 320 nb-1. The measured total W and Z/gamma*-boson production cross sections times the respective leptonic branching ratios for the combined electron and muon channels are $\stotW$ * BR(W -> lnu) = 9.96 +- 0.23(stat) +- 0.50(syst) +- 1.10(lumi) nb and $\stotZg$ * BR(Z/gamma* -> ll) = 0.82 +- 0.06(stat) +- 0.05(syst) +- 0.09(lumi) nb (within the invariant mass window 66 < m_ll < 116 GeV). The W/Z cross-section ratio is measured to be 11.7 +- 0.9(stat) +- 0.4(syst). In addition, measurements of the W+ and W- production cross sections and of the lepton charge asymmetry are reported. Theoretical predictions based on NNLO QCD calculations are found to agree with the measurements.
Using a silicon-microstrip detector array to identify secondary vertices occurring downstream of a short platinum target, we have searched for the decay D0→μ+μ−. Normalized relative to the J/ψ→μ+μ− signal observed in the same data sample, for a 3.25-mm minimum decay distance our branching-ratio sensitivity is (4.8±1.4)×10−6 per event, and after background subtraction we observe -4.1±4.8 events. Using the statistical approach advocated by the Particle Data Group, we obtain a limit B(D0→μ+μ−)<3.1×10−5 at 90% confidence, confirming with a different technique the limit previously obtained by Louis et al. The interpretation of the upper limit involves complex statistical issues; we present another approach which is more suitable for combining the results of different experiments.
We report a high statistics measurement of Upsilon production with an 800 GeV/c proton beam on hydrogen and deuterium targets. The dominance of the gluon-gluon fusion process for Upsilon production at this energy implies that the cross section ratio, $\sigma (p + d \to \Upsilon) / 2\sigma (p + p\to \Upsilon)$, is sensitive to the gluon content in the neutron relative to that in the proton. Over the kinematic region 0 < x_F < 0.6, this ratio is found to be consistent with unity, in striking contrast to the behavior of the Drell-Yan cross section ratio $\sigma(p+d)_{DY}/2\sigma(p+p)_{DY}$. This result shows that the gluon distributions in the proton and neutron are very similar. The Upsilon production cross sections are also compared with the p+d and p+Cu cross sections from earlier measurements.
A precise measurement of the ratios of the Drell-Yan cross section per nucleon for an 800 GeV/c proton beam incident on Be, Fe and W targets is reported. The behavior of the Drell-Yan ratios at small target parton momentum fraction is well described by an existing fit to the shadowing observed in deep-inelastic scattering. The cross section ratios as a function of the incident parton momentum fraction set tight limits on the energy loss of quarks passing through a cold nucleus.
We present a measurement of the polarization observed for bottomonium states produced in p-Cu collisions at sqrt(s)=38.8 GeV. The angular distribution of the decay dimuons of the Upsilon(1S) state show no polarization at small xF and pT but significant positive transverse production polarization for either pT > 1.8 GeV/c or for xF > 0.35. The Upsilon(2S+3S) unresolved states show a large transverse production polarization at all values of xF and pT measured. These observations are compared with an NRQCD calculation that predicts a transverse polarization in bottomonium production arising from quark-antiquark fusion and gluon-gluon fusion diagrams.
A precise measurement of the ratio of Drell-Yan yields from an 800 GeV/c proton beam incident on hydrogen and deuterium targets is reported. Over 140,000 Drell-Yan muon pairs with dimuon mass M_{mu+ mu-} >= 4.5 GeV/c^2 were recorded. From these data, the ratio of anti-down (dbar) to anti-up (ubar) quark distributions in the proton sea is determined over a wide range in Bjorken-x. A strong x dependence is observed in the ratio dbar/ubar, showing substantial enhancement of dbar with respect to ubar for x<0.2. This result is in fair agreement with recent parton distribution parameterizations of the sea. For x>0.2, the observed dbar/ubar ratio is much nearer unity than given by the parameterizations.
The diffractive production of ρ0(770 @#@) mesons in muon-proton interactions is studied in the kinematic region 0.15 GeV2< Q2< 20 GeV2 and 20 GeV < ? < 420 GeV. The data were obtained in the Fermilab fixed-target experiment E665 with primary muons of 470 GeV energy. Results are presented on the Q2, x and ? dependence of the cross section, on the shape of the ρ+ρt - mass spectrum, on the slope of the diffraction peak and on the production and decay angular distributions of the ρ0(770). The cross section for diffractive production of ρ0 by virtual photons on protons depends mainly on Q2. At fixed Q2, no significant dependence on x or ? is observed. The extrapolation to Q2 = 0 yields a photoproduction cross section of (10.30 ± 0.33) μb. The slope of the t′ distribution has a value of (7.0 ± 0.2) GeV−2, with a tendency to decrease as Q2 increases. The production and decay angular distributions of the ρ0 depend strongly on Q2 and are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The ratio R = σl/σt deduced from the decay angular distributions rises strongly with Q2, passing the value of 1 at Q2≈ 2 GeV2.
Measurements of the ratio of Drell-Yan yields from an 800 \rm{GeV/c} proton beam incident on liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets are reported. Approximately 360,000 Drell-Yan muon pairs remained after all cuts on the data. From these data, the ratio of anti-down ($\bar{d}$) to anti-up ($\bar{u}$) quark distributions in the proton sea is determined over a wide range in Bjorken-$x$. These results confirm previous measurements by E866 and extend them to lower $x$. From these data, $(\bar{d}-\bar{u})$ and $\int(\bar{d}-\bar{u})dx$ are evaluated for $0.015<x<0.35$. These results are compared with parameterizations of various parton distribution functions, models and experimental results from NA51, NMC, and HERMES.
Dimuon production is studied in 400-GeV proton-nucleus collisions. A strong enhancement is observed at 9.5 GeV mass in a sample of 9000 dimuon events with a mass $m_{\mu^+\mu^-} \to$ 5 GeV.
The production of the ϒ family in proton-nucleus collisions is clarified by a sixfold increase in statistics. Constraining ϒ,ϒ′ masses to those observed at DORIS we find the statistical significance of the ϒ′′ to be 11 standard deviations. The dependence of ϒ production on pt, y, and s is presented. Limits for other resonance production in the mass range 4-18 GeV are determined.
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