Precision measurement of forward $Z$ boson production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

Abstract

A precision measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the forward region is presented, using $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 fb$^{-1}$. The production cross-section is measured using $Z\rightarrowμ^+μ^-$ events within the fiducial region defined as pseudorapidity $2.0<η<4.5$ and transverse momentum $p_{T}>20$ GeV/$c$ for both muons and dimuon invariant mass $60<M_{μμ}<120$ GeV/$c^2$. The integrated cross-section is determined to be \begin{equation*} σ(Z\rightarrowμ^+μ^-) = 196.4 \pm 0.2 \pm 1.6 \pm 3.9~pb, \end{equation*} where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the luminosity determination. The measured results are in agreement with theoretical predictions within uncertainties.

60 pages, 15 figures. All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2021-037.html (LHCb public pages)