Measurements and interpretations of $W^{\pm }Z$ production cross-sections in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

Measurements of integrated and differential cross-sections for $W^{\pm }Z$ production in proton-proton collisions are presented. The data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb${}^{-1}$. The $W^{\pm }Z$ candidate events are reconstructed using leptonic decay modes of the gauge bosons into electrons or muons. The integrated cross-section per lepton flavour for the production of $W^{\pm }Z$ is measured in the detector fiducial region with a relative precision of 4%. The measured value is compared with the Standard Model prediction at a precision of up to next-to-next-to-leading-order in QCD and next-to-leading-order in electroweak. Cross-sections for $W^{+}Z$ and $W^{-}Z$ production and their ratio are presented. The $W^{\pm }Z$ production is also measured differentially as functions of various kinematic variables, including new observables sensitive to CP-violation effects. All measurements are compared with state-of-the-art Standard Model predictions from fixed-order calculations or Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with parton showers. An effective field theory interpretation of the measurements is performed, considering both CP-conserving and CP-violating dimension-6 operators modifying the $W^{\pm }Z$ production. In the absence of observed deviations from the Standard Model, limits on CP-conserving Wilson coefficients are extracted using the transverse mass of the $W^{\pm }Z$ system. For CP-violating coefficients a machine learning approach is used to construct an observable with enhanced sensitivity to CP-violation effects.

arXiv comment65 pages in total, author list starting page 48, 15 figures, 8 tables, published by JHEP. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2019-26/

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