Measurement of the production cross section for a W boson and two b jets in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Abstract

The production cross section for a W boson and two b jets is measured using proton–proton collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 7 TeV in a data sample collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb⁻¹. The \(W+b\overline{b}\) events are selected in the W→μν decay mode by requiring a muon with transverse momentum \(p_T\)>25 GeV and pseudorapidity |η|<2.1, and exactly two b-tagged jets with \(p_T\)>25 GeV and |η|<2.4. The measured \(W+b\overline{b}\) production cross section in the fiducial region, calculated at the level of final-state particles, is \(σ(pp \to W+b\overline{b}) × \mathcal{B}(W \to μν)=0.53±0.05(stat.)±0.09(syst.)±0.06(theo.)±0.01(lum.) pb\), in agreement with the standard model prediction. In addition, kinematic distributions of the \(W+b\overline{b}\) system are in agreement with the predictions of a simulation using MadGraph and pythia.