Search for hadronic decays of W and Z bosons in photon events in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV

Abstract

We report on a search for the process pp̄→γ+W/Z with W/Z→qq̄ in events containing two jets and a photon at the center-of-mass energy s=1.96TeV, using 184pb-1 of data collected by the CDF II detector. A neural network event selection has been developed to optimize the rejection of the large QCD production background; it is shown that this method gives a significant improvement in both signal-to-noise ratio and signal sensitivity, as compared with an event selection based on conventional cuts. An upper limit is presented for the γ+W/Z production cross section with the W and Z decaying hadronically. © 2009 The American Physical Society.