Measurement of Inclusive W and Z Boson Production Cross Sections in pp Collisions at √s = 8 TeV

Abstract

A measurement of total and fiducial inclusive W and Z boson production cross sections in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV is presented. Electron and muon final states are analyzed in a data sample collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.2 ± 0.5 pb−1. The measured total inclusive cross sections times branching fractions are σ(pp → WX)×B(W → ℓν) = 12.21 ±0.03(stat) ±0.24 (syst) ± 0.32 (lum) nb and σ(pp → ZX)×B(Z → ℓ+ ℓ−) = 1.15 ± 0.01 (stat) ±0.02 (syst) ±0.03 (lum) nb for the dilepton mass in the range of 60—120 GeV. The measured values agree with next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD cross section calculations. Ratios of cross sections are reported with a precision of 2%. This is the first measurement of inclusive W and Z boson production in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV.