First observation of vector Boson pairs in a hadronic final state at the tevatron collider

Abstract

We present the first observation in hadronic collisions of the electroweak production of vector boson pairs (VV, V=W, Z) where one boson decays to a dijet final state. The data correspond to 3.5fb-1 of integrated luminosity of pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV collected by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We observe 1516±239(stat)±144(syst) diboson candidate events and measure a cross section σ(pp̄→VV+X) of 18.0±2.8(stat)±2.4(syst)±1.1(lumi)pb, in agreement with the expectations of the standard model. © 2009 The American Physical Society.