Measurement of the WZ cross section and triple gauge couplings in p ¯ p collisions at √ s = 1.96 TeV

Abstract

This article describes the current most precise measurement of the WZ production cross section as well as limits on anomalous WWZ couplings at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV in proton-antiproton collisions for the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). WZ candidates are reconstructed from decays containing three charged leptons and missing energy from a neutrino, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector (7.1 fb−1 of integrated luminosity), 63 candidate events are observed with the expected background contributing 8±1 events. The measured total cross section σ(p¯p→WZ)=3.93+0.60−0.53(stat)+0.59−0.46(syst) pb is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of 3.50±0.21. The same sample is used to set limits on anomalous WWZ couplings.