The ATLAS experiment has observed 1995 Z boson candidates in data corresponding to 0.15 inverse nb of integrated luminosity obtained in the 2011 LHC Pb+Pb run at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV. The Z bosons are reconstructed via di-electron and di-muon decay channels, with a background contamination of less than 3%. Results from the two channels are consistent and are combined. Within the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the per-event Z boson yield is proportional to the number of binary collisions estimated by the Glauber model. The elliptic anisotropy of the azimuthal distribution of the Z boson with respect to the event plane is found to be consistent with zero.
The production cross-sections for $W^{\pm}$ and $Z$ bosons are measured using ATLAS data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.0 pb$^{-1}$ collected at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV. The decay channels $W \rightarrow \ell \nu$ and $Z \rightarrow \ell \ell $ are used, where $\ell$ can be an electron or a muon. The cross-sections are presented for a fiducial region defined by the detector acceptance and are also extrapolated to the full phase space for the total inclusive production cross-section. The combined (average) total inclusive cross-sections for the electron and muon channels are: \begin{eqnarray} \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{W^{+}\rightarrow \ell \nu}& = & 2312 \pm 26\ (\text{stat.})\ \pm 27\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 72\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 30\ (\text{extr.})\text{pb} \nonumber, \\ \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{W^{-}\rightarrow \ell \nu}& = & 1399 \pm 21\ (\text{stat.})\ \pm 17\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 43\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 21\ (\text{extr.})\text{pb} \nonumber, \\ \sigma^{\text{tot}}_{Z \rightarrow \ell \ell}& = & 323.4 \pm 9.8\ (\text{stat.}) \pm 5.0\ (\text{syst.}) \pm 10.0\ (\text{lumi.}) \pm 5.5 (\text{extr.}) \text{pb} \nonumber. \end{eqnarray} Measured ratios and asymmetries constructed using these cross-sections are also presented. These observables benefit from full or partial cancellation of many systematic uncertainties that are correlated between the different measurements.
A measurement of the inclusive bottom jet cross section is presented for events containing a $Z$ boson in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using the Collider Detector at Fermilab. $Z$ bosons are identified in their electron and muon decay modes, and $b$ jets with $E_T>20$ GeV and $|\eta|<1.5$ are identified by reconstructing a secondary decay vertex. The measurement is based on an integrated luminosity of about 330 ${\rm pb}^{-1}$. A cross section times branching ratio of $\sigma (Z+b {\rm jets}) \times {\cal B}(Z \to \ell^+ \ell^-)= 0.93 \pm 0.36$ pb is found, where ${\cal B}(Z\to \ell^+ \ell^-)$ is the branching ratio of the $Z$ boson or $\gamma^*$ into a single flavor dilepton pair ($e$ or $\mu$) in the mass range between 66 and 116 GeV$/c^2$. The ratio of $b$ jets to the total number of jets of any flavor in the $Z$ sample, within the same kinematic range as the $b$ jets, is $2.36 \pm 0.92%$. Here, the uncertainties are the quadratic sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. Predictions made with NLO QCD agree, within experimental and theoretical uncertainties, with these measurements.
Drell-Yan lepton pairs are produced in the process $p\bar{p} \rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- + X$ through an intermediate $\gamma^*/Z$ boson. The forward-backward asymmetry in the polar-angle distribution of the $\mu^-$ as a function of the invariant mass of the $\mu^+\mu^-$ pair is used to obtain the effective leptonic determination $\sin^2 \theta^{lept}_{eff}$ of the electroweak-mixing parameter $\sin^2 \theta_W$, from which the value of $\sin^2 \theta_W$ is derived assuming the standard model. The measurement sample, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), corresponds to 9.2 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from $p\bar{p}$ collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV, and is the full CDF Run II data set. The value of $\sin^2 \theta^{lept}_{eff}$ is found to be 0.2315 +- 0.0010, where statistical and systematic uncertainties are combined in quadrature. When interpreted within the context of the standard model using the on-shell renormalization scheme, where $\sin^2 \theta_W = 1 - M_W^2/M_Z^2$, the measurement yields $\sin^2 \theta_W$ = 0.2233 +- 0.0009, or equivalently a W-boson mass of 80.365 +- 0.047 GeV/c^2. The value of the W-boson mass is in agreement with previous determinations in electron-positron collisions and at the Tevatron collider.
We report the first measurement of the cross section for Z boson pair production at a hadron collider. This result is based on a data sample corresponding to 1.9 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. In the llll channel, we observe three ZZ candidates with an expected background of 0.096^{+0.092}_{-0.063} events. In the llnunu channel, we use a leading-order calculation of the relative ZZ and WW event probabilities to discriminate between signal and background. In the combination of llll and llnunu channels, we observe an excess of events with a probability of $5.1\times 10^{-6}$ to be due to the expected background. This corresponds to a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. The measured cross section is sigma(ppbar -> ZZ) = 1.4^{+0.7}_{-0.6} (stat.+syst.) pb, consistent with the standard model expectation.
The Standard Model predictions for $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ production are tested using an integrated luminosity of 200 pb$^{-1}$ of \ppbar collision data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross sections are measured selecting leptonic decays of the $W$ and $Z$ bosons, and photons with transverse energy $E_T>7$ GeV that are well separated from leptons. The production cross sections and kinematic distributions for the $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ are compared to SM predictions.
Inclusive jet cross sections in Z/gamma^* events, with Z/gamma^* decaying into an electron-positron pair, are measured as a function of jet transverse momentum and jet multiplicity in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV with the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab in Run II, based on an integrated luminosity of 1.7 fb^-1. The measurements cover the rapidity region | yjet | < 2.1 and the transverse momentum range ptjet > 30 GeV/c. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions are in good agreement with the measured cross sections.
A measurement of the $\bjet$ production cross section is presented for events containing a $Z$ boson produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. $Z$ bosons are selected in the electron and muon decay modes. Jets are considered with transverse energy $E_T>20$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<1.5$ and are identified as $\bjets$ using a secondary vertex algorithm. The ratio of the integrated $Z+\bjet$ cross section to the inclusive $Z$ production cross section is measured to be $3.32 \pm 0.53 {\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.42 {\rm (syst.)}\times 10^{-3}$. This ratio is also measured differentially in jet $E_T$, jet $\eta$, $Z$-boson transverse momentum, number of jets, and number of $\bjets$. The predictions from leading order Monte Carlo generators and next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are found to be consistent with the measurements within experimental and theoretical uncertainties.