From Van der Meer scans to precision cross section determination: the CMS luminosity and W/Z cross section measurements at √s=8 TeV

by Marco Zanetti (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (US))

Tuesday 20 May 2014, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

The production of W and Z bosons is one of the most prominent examples
of hard scattering processes at hadron colliders. The precise assessment of the corresponding inclusive cross sections provide tests of perturbative QCD and validate the theoretical predictions of higher order corrections. An accurate luminosity determination is instrumental for this and all the other cross section measurements.
The LHC experiments made tremendous steps forward in the comprehension
of the subtleties related to luminosity monitoring and calibration (the latter based on the beams scan technique originally proposed by Van der Meer), which led to an unprecedented accuracy at a hadron collider.
In this seminar the measurement performed by the CMS experiment of total and fiducial inclusive W and Z boson production cross sections at sqrt(s)=8 TeV will be presented; electron and muon final states are considered from a data set recorded in dedicated conditions and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.2 pb-1. Details about the analysis that allowed bringing the luminosity uncertainty down to
2.6% will also be given.

Poster CERNEPSeminar20.05.2014.pdf

Slides CMS_luminosity_WZxsec.pdf CMS_luminosity_WZxsec.pptx

Video in CDS Video in CDS