W and Z Boson Production in PbarP Collisions at Sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV

TL;DR

The inclusive cross sections times leptonic branching ratios for W and Z boson production in pp collisions at √s=1.8 TeV were measured using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider to determine the width of the W boson.

Abstract

The inclusive cross sections times leptonic branching ratios for W and Z boson production in PbarP collisions at Sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV were measured using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider: Sigma_W*B(W->e, nu) = 2.36 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.13 nb, Sigma_W*B(W->mu,nu) = 2.09 +/- 0.23 +/- 0.11 nb, Sigma_Z*B(Z-> e, e) = 0.218 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.012 nb, Sigma_Z*B(Z->mu,mu) = 0.178 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.009 nb. The first error is the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty, and the second reflects the uncertainty in the luminosity. For the combined electron and muon analyses we find: [Sigma_W*B(W->l,nu)]/[Sigma_Z*B(Z->l,l)] = 10.90 +/- 0.49. Assuming Standard Model couplings, this result is used to determine the width of the W boson: Gamma(W) = 2.044 +/- 0.093 GeV.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Transverse mass and invariant mass distributions for the indicated channels. The points are the data. The shaded areas represent the estimated backgrounds, and the solid lines correspond to the sums of the expected signals (from Monte Carlo) and the estimated backgrounds.
• Figure 2: $\sigma\cdot B$ for inclusive $W$ and $Z$ boson production. The inner error bar is the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty and the outer error bar includes the luminosity uncertainty. The solid line and shaded band are the theoretical prediction described in the text.