Observation of diffractive W-boson production at the fermilab tevatron
Physical Review Letters 78:14 (1997) 2698-2703
Authors:
F Abe, H Akimoto, A Akopian, MG Albrow, SR Amendolia, D Amidei, J Antos, S Aota, G Apollinari, T Asakawa, W Ashmanskas, M Atac, F Azfar, P Azzi-Bacchetta, N Bacchetta, W Badgett, S Bagdasarov, MW Bailey, J Bao, P de Barbaro, A Barbaro-Galtieri, VE Barnes, BA Barnett, M Barone, E Barzi, G Bauer, T Baumann, F Bedeschi, S Behrends, S Belforte, G Bellettini, J Bellinger, D Benjamin, J Benlloch, J Bensinger, D Benton, A Beretvas, JP Berge, J Berryhill, S Bertolucci, B Bevensee, A Bhatti, K Biery, M Binkley, D Bisello, RE Blair, C Blocker, A Bodek, W Bokhari, V Bolognesi, G Bolla, D Bortoletto, J Boudreau, L Breccia, C Bromberg, N Bruner, E Buckley-Geer, HS Budd, K Burkett, G Busetto, A Byon-Wagner, KL Byrum, J Cammerata, C Campagnari, M Campbell, A Caner, W Carithers, D Carlsmith, A Castro, D Cauz, Y Cen, F Cervelli, PS Chang, PT Chang, HY Chao, J Chapman, MT Cheng, G Chiarelli, T Chikamatsu, CN Chiou, L Christofek, S Cihangir, AG Clark, M Cobal, E Cocca, M Contreras, J Conway, J Cooper, M Cordelli, C Couyoumtzelis, D Crane, D Cronin-Hennessy, R Culbertson, T Daniels, F Dejongh, S Delchamps, S Dell’agnello, M Dell’orso, R Demina, L Demortier
Abstract:
We report the first observation of diffractively produced W bosons.In a sample of W → eν events produced in pp collisions at √s=1.8TeV, we find an excess of events with a forward rapidity gap, which is attributed to diffraction.The probability that this excess is consistent with nondiffractive production is 1.1×10−4 (3.8σ).The relatively low fraction of W+ jet events observed within this excess implies that mainly quarks from the Pomeron, which mediates diffraction, participate in W production.The diffractive to nondiffractive W production ratio is found to be RW=(1.15±0.55)%.© 1997 The American Physical Society.