Measurement of the ZZ production cross section and limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge couplings in proton-proton collisions at √s=7TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A measurement of the ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at √s=7TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.02fb -1 recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC is presented. Twelve events containing two Z boson candidates decaying to electrons and/or muons are observed, with an expected background of 0.3±0.3(stat)- 0.3+0.4(syst) events. The cross section measured in a phase-space region with good detector acceptance and for dilepton masses within the range 66 to 116 GeV is σZZ→" +" -" +" -fid=19.4-5.2+6.3(stat)-0.7+0. 9(syst)±0.7(lumi)fb. The resulting total cross section for on-shell ZZ production, σZZtot=8.5-2.3+2.7(stat)-0.3+0.4(syst)±0.3(lumi)pb, is consistent with the standard model expectation of 6.5-0.2+0.3pb calculated at the next-to-leading order in QCD. Limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings are derived. © 2012 CERN. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.