Exclusive ϒϒ→ µ+µ- production in proton-proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Abstract

A measurement of the exclusive two-photon production of muon pairs in proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV, pp→pµ + µ-p, is reported using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 40 pb-1. For muon pairs with invariant mass greater than 11.5 GeV, transverse momentum pt (µ) > 4 GeV and pseudorapidity | η(µ)| < 2.1, a fit to the dimuon p T (µ + µ -) distribution results in a measured cross section of σ(p → pµ + µ -p) = 3.38+0.58?0.55 (stat.) ± 0.16 (syst.) ± 0.14 (lumi.) pb, consistent with the theoretical prediction evaluated with the event generator LPAIR. The ratio to the predicted cross section is 0.83+0.58?0.13 (stat.) ± 0.04 (syst.) ± 0.03 (lumi.). The characteristic distributions of the muon pairs produced via ϒϒ fusion, such as the muon acoplanarity, the muon pair invariant mass and transverse momentum agree with those from the theory.