Boson Production Cross Section Research Articles

Search for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs via gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion in the bb¯τ+τ− final state in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs in the HH→bb¯τ+τ− channel is performed using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The analysis strategy is optimized to probe anomalous values of the Higgs boson self-coupling modifier κλ and of the quartic HHVV (V=W,Z) coupling modifier κ2V. No significant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed (expected) upper limit μHH<5.9(3.3) is set at 95% confidence-level on the Higgs boson pair production cross section normalized to its Standard Model prediction. The coupling modifiers are constrained to an observed (expected) 95% confidence interval of −3.1<κλ<9.0 (−2.5<κλ<9.3) and −0.5<κ2V<2.7 (−0.2<κ2V<2.4), assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are fixed to the Standard Model prediction. The results are also interpreted in the context of effective field theories via constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings and Higgs boson pair production cross sections assuming different kinematic benchmark scenarios. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration 2024 CERN

Constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings from its production and decay using the WW channel in proton–proton collisions at s=13TeV\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sqrt{s} = 13~\ ext {TeV}$$\\end{document}

A study of the anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson to vector bosons, including CP\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\ extit{CP}}$$\\end{document}-violation effects, has been conducted using its production and decay in the WW channel. This analysis is performed on proton–proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC during 2016–2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138fb-1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\,\ ext {fb}^{-1}$$\\end{document}. The different-flavor dilepton (eμ)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ extrm{e}} {{\\upmu }})$$\\end{document} final state is analyzed, with dedicated categories targeting gluon fusion, electroweak vector boson fusion, and associated production with a W or Z boson. Kinematic information from associated jets is combined using matrix element techniques to increase the sensitivity to anomalous effects at the production vertex. A simultaneous measurement of four Higgs boson couplings to electroweak vector bosons is performed in the framework of a standard model effective field theory. All measurements are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson and constraints are set on the fractional contribution of the anomalous couplings to the Higgs boson production cross section.

Measurement of vector boson production cross sections and their ratios using pp collisions at [formula omitted] TeV with the ATLAS detector

Fiducial and total W± and Z boson cross sections, their ratios and the ratio of top-antitop-quark pair and W-boson fiducial cross sections are measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s=13.6TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 fb−1 of data collected in 2022 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured fiducial cross-section values for W+→ℓ+ν, W−→ℓ−ν¯, and Z→ℓ+ℓ− (ℓ=e or μ) boson productions are 4250±150pb, 3310±120pb, and 744±20pb, respectively, where the uncertainty is the total uncertainty, including that arising from the luminosity of about 2.2%. The measurements are in agreement with Standard-Model predictions calculated at next-to-next-to-leading-order in αs, next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy and next-to-leading-order electroweak accuracy.

Polarised cross sections for vector boson production with Sherpa

Measurements of vector boson polarisation in vector boson production processes offer a powerful probe of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism, scrutinising the Standard Model and new physics scenarios alike. Since massive vector bosons can only be observed as intermediate particles, polarised cross section templates from simulation are necessary to extract their polarisation from measurable unpolarised distributions. In this work we present an extension of the Sherpa Monte-Carlo event generator allowing the simulation of polarised cross sections for vector boson production processes. Based on the narrow-width approximation, polarised cross sections of all possible polarisation combinations for an arbitrary number of intermediate vector bosons can be simulated in a single simulation run. In addition, it is possible to directly predict the interference between different intermediate polarisation states, and various differing polarisation definitions can be studied simultaneously. Besides the simulation of polarised cross sections at fixed LO and LO+PS accuracy as well as in multijet-merged calculations, we also present parton-shower-matched polarised cross sections with approximate NLO QCD corrections in the vector boson production processes. We demonstrate that the differences of this approximation to full NLO QCD predictions are small and it thus opens up the possibility for fully-simulated calculations at the hadron level including polarisation information and higher-order QCD effects for the first time.

Search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson into a Z boson and a pseudoscalar particle in proton-proton collisions at [formula omitted

A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a Z boson and a light pseudoscalar particle (a), decaying to a pair of leptons and a pair of photons, respectively, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of s=13TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138fb−1. The analysis probes pseudoscalar masses ma between 1 and 30 GeV, leading to two pairs of well-isolated leptons and photons. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the Higgs boson production cross section times its branching fraction to two leptons and two photons. The observed (expected) limits are in the range of 1.1–17.8 (1.7–17.9)fb within the probed ma interval. An excess of data above the expected standard model background with a local (global) significance of 2.6 (1.3) standard deviations is observed for a mass hypothesis of ma=3GeV. Limits on models involving axion-like particles, formulated as an effective field theory, are also reported.

Measurement of the Z boson production cross-section in pp collisions at s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 5.02 TeV

The first measurement of the Z boson production cross-section at centre-of-mass energy s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 5.02 TeV in the forward region is reported, using pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment in year 2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 100 ± 2 pb−1. The production cross-section is measured for final-state muons in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < η < 4.5 with transverse momentum pT> 20 GeV/c. The integrated cross-section is determined to beσZ→μ+μ−=39.6±0.7stat±0.6syst±0.8lumipb\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\sigma}_{Z\ o \\mu +\\mu -}=39.6\\pm 0.7\\left(\ extrm{stat}\\right)\\pm 0.6\\left(\ extrm{syst}\\right)\\pm 0.8\\left(\ extrm{lumi}\\right)\ extrm{pb} $$\\end{document}for the di-muon invariant mass in the range 60 < Mμμ< 120 GeV/c2. This result and the differential cross-section results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant.Based on a previous LHCb measurement of the Z boson production cross-section in pPb collisions at sNN\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s_{NN}} $$\\end{document} = 5.02 TeV, the nuclear modification factor RpPb is measured for the first time at this energy. The measured values are 1.2−0.3+0.5\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {1.2}_{-0.3}^{+0.5} $$\\end{document} (stat) ± 0.1(syst) in the forward region (1.53 <yμ∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {y}_{\\mu}^{\\ast } $$\\end{document}< 4.03) and 3.6−0.9+1.6\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {3.6}_{-0.9}^{+1.6} $$\\end{document} (stat) ± 0.2(syst) in the backward region (−4.97 <yμ∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {y}_{\\mu}^{\\ast } $$\\end{document}< −2.47), where yμ∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {y}_{\\mu}^{\\ast } $$\\end{document} represents the muon rapidity in the centre-of-mass frame.

Single-soft emissions for amplitudes with two colored particles at three loops

We compute the three-loop correction to the universal single-soft emission current for the case of scattering amplitudes with two additional color-charged partons. We present results valid for QCD and N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 4 super-symmetric Yang-Mills theory. To achieve our results we develop a new integrand expansion technique for scattering amplitudes in the presence of soft emissions. Furthermore, we obtain contributions from single final-state parton matrix elements to the Higgs boson and Drell-Yan production cross section at next-to-next-to-next-to-next-to leading order (N4LO) in perturbative QCD in the threshold limit.

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the two bottom quarks plus two photons final state in pp collisions at [formula omitted] TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for nonresonant and resonant di-Higgs boson production are performed in the bb¯γγ final state. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at 13 TeV center-of-mass energy recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the expected background is found and upper limits on the di-Higgs boson production cross sections are set.For pp→HH nonresonant production, a 95% confidence-level upper limit of 4.2 times the cross section predicted by the Standard Model is set, where the expected limit is 5.7 times the Standard Model predicted value. The expected constraints are obtained for a background hypothesis excluding pp→HH production. The observed (expected) constraints on the Higgs boson trilinear coupling modifier κλ are determined to be [−1.5,6.7]([−2.4,7.7]) at 95% confidence level, where the expected constraints on κλ are obtained excluding pp→HH production from the background hypothesis.For resonant production of a new hypothetical scalar particle X (X→HH→bb¯γγ), limits on the cross section for pp→X→HH are presented in the narrow-width approximation as a function of mX in the range 251≤mX≤1000 GeV. The observed (expected) limits on the cross section for pp→X→HH range from 640 fb to 44 fb (391 fb to 46 fb) over the considered mass range.

Measurements of the Higgs boson production cross section and couplings in the W boson pair decay channel in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s}=13,text {Tehspace{-.08em}V}

Production cross sections of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a pair of W bosons are measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13,text {Tehspace{-.08em}V}. The analysis targets Higgs bosons produced via gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and in association with a W or Z boson. Candidate events are required to have at least two charged leptons and moderate missing transverse momentum, targeting events with at least one leptonically decaying W boson originating from the Higgs boson. Results are presented in the form of inclusive and differential cross sections in the simplified template cross section framework, as well as couplings of the Higgs boson to vector bosons and fermions. The data set collected by the CMS detector during 2016–2018 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138,text {fb}^{-1}. The signal strength modifier mu , defined as the ratio of the observed production rate in a given decay channel to the standard model expectation, is measured to be mu = 0.95^{+0.10}_{-0.09}. All results are found to be compatible with the standard model within the uncertainties.

Search for the exotic decay of the Higgs boson into two light pseudoscalars with four photons in the final state in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search for the exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a pair of light pseudoscalars, each of which subsequently decays into a pair of photons, is presented. The search uses data from proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb−1. The analysis probes pseudoscalar bosons with masses in the range 15–62 GeV, coming from the Higgs boson decay, which leads to four well-isolated photons in the final state. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed. Upper limits are set on the product of the Higgs boson production cross section and branching fraction into four photons. The observed (expected) limits range from 0.80 (1.00) fb for a pseudoscalar boson mass of 15 GeV to 0.26 (0.24) fb for a mass of 62 GeV at 95% confidence level.

Measurement of the properties of Higgs boson production at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV in the H → γγ channel using 139 fb−1 of pp collision data with the ATLAS experiment

Measurements of Higgs boson production cross-sections are carried out in the diphoton decay channel using 139 fb−1 of pp collision data at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The analysis is based on the definition of 101 distinct signal regions using machine-learning techniques. The inclusive Higgs boson signal strength in the diphoton channel is measured to be {1.04}_{-0.09}^{+0.10} . Cross-sections for gluon-gluon fusion, vector-boson fusion, associated production with a W or Z boson, and top associated production processes are reported. An upper limit of 10 times the Standard Model prediction is set for the associated production process of a Higgs boson with a single top quark, which has a unique sensitivity to the sign of the top quark Yukawa coupling. Higgs boson production is further characterized through measurements of Simplified Template Cross-Sections (STXS). In total, cross-sections of 28 STXS regions are measured. The measured STXS cross-sections are compatible with their Standard Model predictions, with a p-value of 93%. The measurements are also used to set constraints on Higgs boson coupling strengths, as well as on new interactions beyond the Standard Model in an effective field theory approach. No significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed in these measurements, which provide significant sensitivity improvements compared to the previous ATLAS results.

Measurement of the Z boson production cross-section in proton-lead collisions at sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 8.16 TeV

This article presents the first measurement of the differential Z-boson production cross-section in the forward region using proton-lead collisions with the LHCb detector. The dataset was collected at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s_{textrm{NN}}} = 8.16 TeV in 2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 30.8 nb−1. The forward-backward ratio and the nuclear modification factors are measured together with the differential cross-section as functions of the Z boson rapidity in the centre-of-mass frame, the transverse momentum of the Z boson and a geometric variable ϕ*. The results are in good agreement with the predictions from nuclear parton distribution functions, providing strong constraining power at small Bjorken-x.

Measurement of the total and differential Higgs boson production cross-sections at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector by combining the H → ZZ*→ 4ℓ and H → γγ decay channels

The total and differential Higgs boson production cross-sections are measured through a combined statistical analysis of the H → ZZ* → 4ℓ and H → γγ decay channels. The results are based on a dataset of 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured total Higgs boson production cross-section is {55.5}_{-3.8}^{+4.0} pb, consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 55.6 ± 2.5 pb. All results from the two decay channels are compatible with each other, and their combination agrees with the Standard Model predictions. A combined statistical interpretation of the measured fiducial cross-sections as a function of the Higgs boson transverse momentum is performed in order to probe the Yukawa couplings to the bottom and charm quarks. A similar interpretation is performed by including also the constraints from the measurements of Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson in the H → boverline{b} and coverline{c} decay channels.

Model independent measurements of standard model cross sections with domain adaptation

With the ever growing amount of data collected by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the CERN LHC, fiducial and differential measurements of the Higgs boson production cross section have become important tools to test the standard model predictions with an unprecedented level of precision, as well as seeking deviations that can manifest the presence of physics beyond the standard model. These measurements are in general designed for being easily comparable to any present or future theoretical prediction, and to achieve this goal it is important to keep the model dependence to a minimum. Nevertheless, the reduction of the model dependence usually comes at the expense of the measurement precision, preventing to exploit the full potential of the signal extraction procedure. In this paper a novel methodology based on the machine learning concept of domain adaptation is proposed, which allows using a complex deep neural network in the signal extraction procedure while ensuring a minimal dependence of the measurements on the theoretical modeling of the signal.

Soft integrals and soft anomalous dimensions at N3LO and beyond

We calculate soft phase-space and loop master integrals for the computation of color-singlet cross sections through N3LO in perturbative QCD. Our results are functions of homogeneous transcendental weight and include the first nine terms in the expansion in the dimensional regulator ϵ. We discuss the application of our results to the computation of deeply-inelastic scattering and e+e− annihilation processes. We use these results to compute the perturbative coefficient functions for the Drell-Yan and gluon-fusion Higgs boson production cross sections to higher orders in ϵ through N3LO in QCD in the limit where only soft partons are produced on top of the colorless final state. Furthermore, we extract the anomalous dimension of the inclusive threshold soft function and of the N-Jettiness beam and jet functions to N4LO in perturbative QCD.

NNLO study of top-quark mass renormalization scheme uncertainties in Higgs boson production

The ambiguity in the choice of a renormalization scheme and scale for the top-quark mass leads to an additional source of theoretical uncertainty in the calculation of the Higgs boson production cross section via gluon fusion. These uncertainties were found to be dominant in the case of off-shell Higgs production at next-to-leading order in QCD for large values of the Higgs virtuality {m}_H^{ast } . In this work, we study the uncertainties related to the top-quark mass definition up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD. We include the full top-quark mass dependence up to three loops in the virtual corrections, and evaluate the real contributions in the soft limit, therefore obtaining the so-called soft-virtual (SV) approximation. We construct NNLOSV predictions for off-shell Higgs boson production renormalizing the top-quark mass within both the on-shell (OS) and the overline{mathrm{MS}} schemes, and study in detail the differences between them. While the differences between the two schemes are sizeable, we find that the predictions are always compatible within scale uncertainties. We also observe that the difference between renormalization schemes is largely reduced when increasing the order of the perturbative expansion. We analyze the quality of the convergence of the perturbative series in both schemes, and find that at large invariant masses the overline{mathrm{MS}} results present much larger corrections than their OS counterparts. We also comment on the more complicated case of Higgs boson pair production.

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the two bottom quarks plus two photons final state in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches are performed for nonresonant and resonant di-Higgs boson production in the bb¯γγ final state. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the expected background is found and upper limits on the di-Higgs boson production cross sections are set. A 95% confidence-level upper limit of 4.2 times the cross section predicted by the Standard Model is set on pp→HH nonresonant production, where the expected limit is 5.7 times the Standard Model predicted value. The expected constraints are obtained for a background hypothesis excluding pp→HH production. The observed (expected) constraints on the Higgs boson trilinear coupling modifier κλ are determined to be [−1.5,6.7] ([−2.4,7.7]) at 95% confidence level, where the expected constraints on κλ are obtained excluding pp→HH production from the background hypothesis. For resonant production of a new hypothetical scalar particle X (X→HH→bb¯γγ), limits on the cross section for pp→X→HH are presented in the narrow-width approximation as a function of mX in the range 251 GeV≤mX≤1000 GeV. The observed (expected) limits on the cross section for pp→X→HH range from 640 fb to 44 fb (391 fb to 46 fb) over the considered mass range.8 MoreReceived 23 December 2021Accepted 1 August 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.052001Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.© 2022 CERN, for the ATLAS CollaborationPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasExtensions of Higgs sectorHadron-hadron interactionsPhysical SystemsHiggs bosonsParticles & Fields

Measurements of Higgs boson production cross-sections in the H → τ+τ− decay channel in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of the production cross-sections of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (H) decaying into a pair of τ-leptons are presented. The measurements use data collected with the ATLAS detector from pp collisions produced at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s} = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Leptonic (τ → ℓνℓντ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ντ) decays of the τ-lepton are considered. All measurements account for the branching ratio of H → ττ and are performed with a requirement |yH| < 2.5, where yH is the true Higgs boson rapidity. The cross-section of the pp → H → ττ process is measured to be 2.94 ± 0.21{left(mathrm{stat}right)}_{-0.32}^{+0.37} (syst) pb, in agreement with the SM prediction of 3.17 ± 0.09 pb. Inclusive cross-sections are determined separately for the four dominant production modes: 2.65 ± 0.41{left(mathrm{stat}right)}_{-0.67}^{+0.91} (syst) pb for gluon-gluon fusion, 0.197 ± 0.028{left(mathrm{stat}right)}_{-0.026}^{+0.032} (syst) pb for vector-boson fusion, 0.115 ± 0.058{left(mathrm{stat}right)}_{-0.040}^{+0.042} (syst) pb for vector-boson associated production, and 0.033 ± 0.031{left(mathrm{stat}right)}_{-0.017}^{+0.022} (syst) pb for top-quark pair associated production. Measurements in exclusive regions of the phase space, using the simplified template cross-section framework, are also performed. All results are in agreement with the SM predictions.

Longitudinal Z-boson polarization and the Higgs boson production cross-section

We present a study of the LHC (and HL-LHC) potential towards a precise determination of the gluon parton distribution function of the proton at intermediate Bjorken-xx from measurements of Drell-Yan production. To this extent, we exploit a clean and theoretically well predicted observable: the Drell-Yan lepton angular coefficient A_0A0, associated with the longitudinal polarization of the Z boson. Through a detailed numerical analysis using the open-source xFitter platform, we illustrate how this observable can provide significant sensitivity over current determinations of the gluon PDF, and a reduction in the PDF uncertainty on the Higgs boson production cross-section by a factor of over 50%.

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

A precision measurement of the Z boson production cross-section at sqrt{mathrm{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 → μ+μ− events within the fiducial region defined as pseudorapidity 2.0 < η < 4.5 and transverse momentum pT> 20 GeV/c for both muons and dimuon invariant mass 60 < Mμμ< 120 GeV/c2. The integrated cross-section is determined to beσZ→μ+μ−=196.4±0.2±1.6±3.9pb,\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sigma \\left(Z\ o {\\mu}^{+}{\\mu}^{-}\\right)=196.4\\pm 0.2\\pm 1.6\\pm 3.9\\ \\mathrm{pb}, $$\\end{document}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.