Abstract
This letter describes the first observation of W boson pair production at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 161.3 GeV in the OPAL detector at LEP. The analysis is sensitive to all expected W+W- decay channels. A total of 28 events have been selected for an integrated luminosity of 9.89 ±0.06 pb-1. This is consistent with the Standard Model expectation, including signal and background contributions. The W pair production cross-section is measured to be <TWW = 3.62+0.93 -0.82 ±0.16 pb. An analysis of the predicted Mw dependence of the accepted cross-section, taking into account interference in the four-fermion production processes, yields Mw = 80.40+0.44+0.09 -0.41-0.10 ±0.10 GeV, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively, and the third arises from the beam energy uncertainty.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 416-428 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Physics Letters B |
Volume | 389 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 12 1996 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
We particularly wish to thank the SL Division for the efficient operation of the LEP acceleratora t the new energy of 4 = 161 GeV and for their continuing close cooperation with our experimental group. We thank our colleagues from CEA, DAPNIA/SPP, CE-Saclay for their efforts over the years on the time-of-flight and trigger systems which we continue to use. In addition to the support staff at our own institutions we are pleasedt o acknowledget he Departmento f Energy, USA, National Science Foundation, USA, Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, UK Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada, Israel Science Foundation, administeredb y the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, Minerva Gesellschaft, Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (the Monbusho) and a grant under the Monbusho International Science ResearchP rogram, German Israeli Bi-national Science Foundation (GIF), Bundesministerium fur Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Germany, National Research Council of Canada, Hungarian Foundation for Scientific Research,O TKA T-016660, and OTKA F-015089.