The associated production of a W and a Z boson is studied in final states with multiple leptons produced in proton-proton (pp) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV using 137 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. A measurement of the total inclusive production cross section yields $\sigma_{\text{tot}}$(pp $\to$ WZ) = 50.6 $\pm$ 0.8 (stat) $\pm$ 1.5 (syst) $\pm$ 1.1 (lumi) $\pm$ 0.5 (theo) pb. Measurements of the fiducial and differential cross sections for several key observables are also performed in all the final-state lepton flavour and charge compositions with a total of three charged leptons, which can be electrons or muons. All results are compared with theoretical predictions computed up to next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics plus next-to-leading order in electroweak theory and for various sets of parton distribution functions. The results include direct measurements of the charge asymmetry and the W and Z vector boson polarization. The first observation of longitudinally polarized W bosons in WZ production is reported. Anomalous gauge couplings are searched for, leading to new constraints on beyond-the-standard-model contributions to the WZ triple gauge coupling.
WZ charge asymmetry ratio measured on each of the four flavour exclusive and the flavour inclusive channels
A search is performed for the electroweak pair production of charginos and associated production of a chargino and neutralino, each of which decays through an $R$-parity-violating coupling into a lepton and a $W$, $Z$, or Higgs boson. The trilepton invariant-mass spectrum is constructed from events with three or more leptons, targeting chargino decays that include an electron or muon and a leptonically decaying $Z$ boson. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment between 2015 and 2018. The data are found to be consistent with predictions from the Standard Model. The results are interpreted as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model. Limits are also set on the production of charginos and neutralinos for a Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with an approximate $B$-$L$ symmetry. Charginos and neutralinos with masses between 100 GeV and 1100 GeV are excluded depending on the assumed decay branching fractions into a lepton (electron, muon, or $\tau$-lepton) plus a boson ($W$, $Z$, or Higgs).
$m^{asym}_{Z\ell}$ kinematic distribution in the signal regions showing the data and the post-fit background in sr3$\ell$. The fit uses all CR and SRs, and the distributions are shown inclusively in $m_{Z\ell}$. The full event selection for each of the corresponding regions is applied except for the variable shown, where the selection is indicated by a blue arrow. the first (last) bin includes underflow (overflow) events. The other category mostly consists of $tWZ$, $t\bar{t}W$, and $tZ$ processes. The hatched bands indicate the combined theoretical, experimental, and MC statistical uncertainties. The bottom panel shows the ratio between the data and the post-fit background prediction.
$m^{asym}_{Z\ell}$ kinematic distribution in the signal regions showing the data and the post-fit background in sr3$\ell$. The fit uses all CR and SRs, and the distributions are shown inclusively in $m_{Z\ell}$. The full event selection for each of the corresponding regions is applied except for the variable shown, where the selection is indicated by a blue arrow. the first (last) bin includes underflow (overflow) events. The other category mostly consists of $tWZ$, $t\bar{t}W$, and $tZ$ processes. The hatched bands indicate the combined theoretical, experimental, and MC statistical uncertainties. The bottom panel shows the ratio between the data and the post-fit background prediction.
Inclusive and differential cross sections of single top quark production in association with a Z boson are measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment. Events are selected based on the presence of three leptons, electrons or muons, associated with leptonic Z boson and top quark decays. The measurement yields an inclusive cross section of 87.9 $_{-7.3}^{+7.5}$ (stat) $_{-6.0}^{+7.3}$ (syst) fb for a dilepton invariant mass greater than 30 GeV, in agreement with standard model (SM) calculations and the most precise determination to date. The ratio between the cross sections for the top quark and the top antiquark production in association with a Z boson is measured as 2.37 $_{-0.42}^{+0.56}$ (stat) ${}_{-0.13}^{+0.27}$ (syst). Differential measurements at parton and particle levels are performed for the first time. Several kinematic observables are considered to study the modeling of the process. Results are compared to theoretical predictions with different assumptions on the source of the initial-state b quark and found to be in agreement, within the uncertainties. Additionally, the spin asymmetry, which is sensitive to the top quark polarization, is determined from the differential distribution of the polarization angle at parton level to be 0.54 $\pm$ 0.16 (stat) $\pm$ 0.06 (syst), in agreement with SM predictions.
Likelihood scan of the top quark spin asymmetry.
The production cross sections of the inclusive Drell-Yan processes W to l nu and Z/gamma to ll (l=e,mu) are measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The cross sections are reported integrated over a fiducial kinematic range, extrapolated to the full range and also evaluated differentially as a function of the W decay lepton pseudorapidity and the Z boson rapidity, respectively. Based on an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1 collected in 2010, the precision of these measurements reaches a few per cent. The integrated and the differential W+- and Z/gamma cross sections in the e and mu channels are combined, and compared with perturbative QCD calculations, based on a number of different parton distribution sets available at NNLO.
Combined lepton charge asymmetry from W boson decays.
Fiducial cross sections of Z0 versus W+ from fitting the combined electron and muon decay data sets. The table shows the fitted ellipse centre in Z0 W+ space plus the ellipse radii and angle using the total uncertainties and only the experimental uncertainties.
Fiducial cross sections of Z0 versus W- from fitting the combined electron and muon decay data sets. The table shows the fitted ellipse centre in Z0 W- space plus the ellipse radii and angle using the total uncertainties and only the experimental uncertainties.
The production of Z bosons in pPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV is studied by the CMS experiment via the electron and muon decay channels. The inclusive cross section is compared to pp collision predictions, and found to scale with the number of elementary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The differential cross sections as a function of the Z boson rapidity and transverse momentum are measured. Though they are found to be consistent within uncertainty with theoretical predictions both with and without nuclear effects, the forward-backward asymmetry suggests the presence of nuclear effects at large rapidities. These results provide new data for constraining nuclear parton distribution functions.
Forward-backward asymmetry (AFB) distribution of the Z bosons in pPb collisions as a function of rapidity in the fiducial region for the combined leptonic decay channel.
The first study of W boson production in pPb collisions is presented, for bosons decaying to a muon or electron, and a neutrino. The measurements are based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34.6 inverse nanobarns at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment. The W boson differential cross sections, lepton charge asymmetry, and forward-backward asymmetries are measured for leptons of transverse momentum exceeding 25 GeV, and as a function of the lepton pseudorapidity in the abs(eta[lab]) < 2.4 range. Deviations from the expectations based on currently available parton distribution functions are observed, showing the need for including W boson data in nuclear parton distribution global fits.
Lepton charge asymmetry, $(N_{\ell}^+ - N_{\ell}^-)/(N_{\ell}^+ + N_{\ell}^-)$ as a function of the lepton pseudorapidity.
The angular distributions and the differential branching fraction of the decay B0 to K*0(892) mu mu are studied using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.5 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. From 1430 signal decays, the forward-backward asymmetry of the muons, the K*0(892) longitudinal polarization fraction, and the differential branching fraction are determined as a function of the dimuon invariant mass squared. The measurements are among the most precise to date and are in good agreement with standard model predictions.
The measured values of signal yield, FL, AFB, and differential branching fraction in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared. The (FL,AFB) correlation factors are also shown.
The measured values of FL, AFB, and differential branching fraction in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, combining the 7 TeV and 8 TeV results.
A first measurement of the top quark spin asymmetry, sensitive to the top quark polarisation, in t-channel single top quark production is presented. It is based on a sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse-femtobarns. A high-purity sample of t-channel single top quark events with an isolated muon is selected. Signal and background components are estimated using a fit to data. A differential cross section measurement, corrected for detector effects, of an angular observable sensitive to the top quark polarisation is performed. The differential distribution is used to extract a top quark spin asymmetry of 0.26 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.10 (syst), which is compatible with a p-value of 4.6% with the standard model prediction of 0.44.
The asymmetry $A_{\mu}$ extracted from the differential cross sections.
Using the ATLAS detector, observations have been made of a centrality-dependent dijet asymmetry in the collisions of lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider. In a sample of lead-lead events with a per-nucleon center of mass energy of 2.76 TeV, selected with a minimum bias trigger, jets are reconstructed in fine-grained, longitudinally-segmented electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. The underlying event is measured and subtracted event-by-event, giving estimates of jet transverse energy above the ambient background. The transverse energies of dijets in opposite hemispheres is observed to become systematically more unbalanced with increasing event centrality leading to a large number of events which contain highly asymmetric dijets. This is the first observation of an enhancement of events with such large dijet asymmetries, not observed in proton-proton collisions, and which may point to an interpretation in terms of strong jet energy loss in a hot, dense medium.
Asymmetry in the different centrality regions for 2.76 TeV/Nucleon PB-PB collisions.
Asymmetry in 7 TeV P-P collisions.
The differential cross section and charge asymmetry for inclusive pp to W + X to mu + neutrino + X production at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are measured as a function of muon pseudorapidity. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 18.8 inverse femtobarns recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. These results provide important constraints on the parton distribution functions of the proton in the range of the Bjorken scaling variable x from 10E-3 to 10E-1.
Summary of the measured charge asymmetry $\mathcal{A}$. The theoretical predictions are obtained using the FEWZ 3.1 NNLO MC tool interfaced with five different PDF sets.
Correlation matrix of systematic uncertainties for $\mathcal{A}$. The values are expressed as percentages.