Measurement of the W⁺W⁻ cross section in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeVand limits on anomalous gauge couplings

Abstract

A measurement of the W boson pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV is presented. The data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.4 fb⁻¹. The W\(^{+}\)W\(^{-}\) candidates are selected from events with two charged leptons, electrons or muons, and large missing transverse energy. The measured W+W- cross section is 60.1 ± 0.9 (stat) ± 3.2 (exp) ± 3.1 (theo) ±1.6 (lumi) pb = 60.1 ± 4.8 pb, consistent with the standard model prediction. The W\(^{+}\)W\(^{-}\) cross sections are also measured in two different fiducial phase space regions. The normalized differential cross section is measured as a function of kinematic variables of the final-state charged leptons and compared with several perturbative QCD predictions. Limits on anomalous gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are also given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95 % confidence level intervals are\(-5.7 < c_{WWW} / \Lambda^{2} < 5.9 \text{ TeV}^{-2}, -11.4 < c_{W} / \Lambda^{2} < 5.4 \text{ TeV}^{-2}, -29.2 < c_{B} / \Lambda^{2} < 23.9 \text{ TeV}^{-2}\), in the HISZ basis.