Measurement of the production cross section for a W boson and two b jets in pp collisions at √√s=7 TeV

Abstract

The production cross section for a W boson and two b jets is measured using proton-proton collisions at √s=7 TeV in a data sample collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb-1. The W+bb- events are selected in the W→μν decay mode by requiring a muon with transverse momentum pT > 25 GeV and pseudorapidity |η| < 2.1, and exactly two b-tagged jets with pT > 25 GeV and |η| < 2.4. The measured W+bb- production cross section in the fiducial region, calculated at the level of final-state particles, is σ(pp→W+bb-)×B(W→μν)=0.50.05(stat.) 0.09(syst.)±0.06(theo.)±0.01(lum.) pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction. In addition, kinematic distributions of the W+bb- system are in agreement with the predictions of a simulation using MadGraph and pythia. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.