A measurement of continuum dimuon production in proton-copper collisions at 800-GeV incident energy is presented. The dimuons observed in this experiment cover the mass range from 6.5 to 18 GeV near y=0 in the proton-nucleon center-of-momentum frame. Scaling forms of the cross section for the continuum are compared with the results of other experiments in the context of the parton model and quantum chromodynamics. The present limitations of such scaling comparisons are discussed.
Experimental results on the production of dimuons by 800-GeV protons incident on a copper target are presented. The results include measurements of both the continuum of dimuons and the dimuon decays of the three lowest-mass ϒ S states. A description of the apparatus, data acquisition, and analysis techniques is included. A comparison of the results with data taken at lower incident energies indicates a scaling behavior of the continuum dimuon yields.
The mass spectrum of muon pairs in the range 5 to 15 GeV is studied in the inclusive reaction p+nucleus→μ++μ−+anything. The ϒ and continuum distribution are presented as is the A dependence of the continuum. Comparison with a parton-annihilation model yields a sea-quark distribution.
We report final results of a series of measurements of continuum dimuon production in proton-nucleus collisions at Fermilab. New results with 6 times more statistics are included. A full description of the apparatus and methods used in the analysis of this series of measurements is given. The sea quark distribution of the nucleon is determined within the context of Drell-Yan and quantum-chromodynamic description of dilepton production in hadron collisions.
The Fermilab E866/NuSea Collaboration has measured the Drell-Yan dimuon cross sections in 800 GeV/$c$ $pp$ and $pd$ collisions. This represents the first measurement of the Drell-Yan cross section in $pp$ collisions over a broad kinematic region and the most extensive study to date of the Drell-Yan cross section in $pd$ collisions. The results indicate that recent global parton distribution fits provide a good description of the light antiquark sea in the nucleon over the Bjorken-$x$ range $0.03 \lesssim x < 0.15$, but overestimate the valence quark distributions as $x \to 1$.
The cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries of hadronic and leptonic events produced in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130-183 GeV are presented. Results for ee, mumu, tautau, qq, bb and cc production show no significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions. This enable constraints to be set upon physics beyond the Standard Model such as four-fermion contact interactions, leptoquarks, Z' bosons and R-parity violating squarks and sneutrinos. Limits on the energy scale Lambda of eeff contact interactions are typically in the range from 2-10 TeV. Limits on R-parity violating sneutrinos reach masses of a few hundred GeV for large values of their Yukawa couplings.
A precision measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the forward region is presented, using $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 fb$^{-1}$. The production cross-section is measured using $Z\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ events within the fiducial region defined as pseudorapidity $2.0<\eta<4.5$ and transverse momentum $p_{T}>20$ GeV/$c$ for both muons and dimuon invariant mass $60<M_{\mu\mu}<120$ GeV/$c^2$. The integrated cross-section is determined to be $\sigma (Z \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)$ = 196.4 $\pm$ 0.2 $\pm$ 1.6 $\pm$ 3.9~pb, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the luminosity determination. The measured results are in agreement with theoretical predictions within uncertainties.
A measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry A[FB] of oppositely charged lepton pairs (mu mu and e e) produced via Z/gamma* boson exchange in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement of A[FB] is performed for dilepton masses between 40 GeV and 2 TeV and for dilepton rapidity up to 5. The A[FB] measurements as a function of dilepton mass and rapidity are compared with the standard model predictions.
Measurements of the differential and double-differential Drell-Yan cross sections in the dielectron and dimuon channels are presented. They are based on proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measured inclusive cross section in the Z peak region (60-120 GeV), obtained from the combination of the dielectron and dimuon channels, is 1138 +/- 8 (exp) +/- 25 (theo) +/- 30 (lumi) pb, where the statistical uncertainty is negligible. The differential cross section d(sigma)/d(m) in the dilepton mass range 15 to 2000 GeV is measured and corrected to the full phase space. The double-differential cross section d2(sigma)/d(m)d(abs(y)) is also measured over the mass range 20 to 1500 GeV and absolute dilepton rapidity from 0 to 2.4. In addition, the ratios of the normalized differential cross sections measured at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV are presented. These measurements are compared to the predictions of perturbative QCD at next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) orders using various sets of parton distribution functions (PDFs). The results agree with the NNLO theoretical predictions computed with FEWZ 3.1 using the CT10 NNLO and NNPDF2.1 NNLO PDFs. The measured double-differential cross section and ratio of normalized differential cross sections are sufficiently precise to constrain the proton PDFs.
Differential cross sections for the Drell-Yan process, including Z boson production, using the dimuon decay channel are measured in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV. A data sample recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 173 nb$^{-1}$. The differential cross section as a function of the dimuon mass is measured in the range 15-600 GeV, for the first time in proton-nucleus collisions. It is also reported as a function of dimuon rapidity over the mass ranges 15-60 GeV and 60-120 GeV, and ratios for the p-going over the Pb-going beam directions are built. In both mass ranges, the differential cross sections as functions of the dimuon transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$ and of a geometric variable $\phi^*$ are measured, where $\phi^*$ highly correlates with $p_\mathrm{T}$ but is determined with higher precision. In the Z mass region, the rapidity dependence of the data indicate a modification of the distribution of partons within a lead nucleus as compared to the proton case. The data are more precise than predictions based upon current models of parton distributions.
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