Observation of Central Exclusive Diphoton Production at the Tevatron
- Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Helsinki Inst. of Physics (Finland)
We have observed exclusive γγ production in proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron at √ s = 1.96 TeV. We use data corresponding to 1.11 ± 0.07 fb-1 integrated luminosity taken by the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, with a trigger requiring two electromagnetic showers, each with transverse energy ET > 2 GeV, and vetoing on hits in the forward beam shower counters. We select events with two electromagnetic showers, each with transverse energy ET > 2.5 GeV and pseudorapidity |η| < 1.0, with no other particles detected in -7.4 < η < +7.4. The two showers have similar ET and an azimuthal angle separation Δφ ~ π; we find 34 events with exactly two matching charged particle tracks, agreeing with expectations for the QED process p¯p → p+e+e- + ¯p by two photon exchange; and we find 43 events with no tracks. The latter are candidates for the exclusive process p¯p → p + γγ + ¯p by double pomeron exchange. We use the strip and wire chambers at the longitudinal shower maximum position within the calorimeter to measure a possible exclusive background from IP + IP → π0π0, and conclude that it is consistent with zero and is < 15 events at 95% C.L. The measured cross section is σγγ,excl(|η| < 1, ET (γ) > 2.5 GeV) = 2.48 +0.40 -0.35(stat) +0.40 -0.51(syst) pb and in agreement with the theoretical predictions. This process is closely related to exclusive Higgs boson production pp → p + H + p at the Large Hadron Collider. The observation of the exclusive production of diphotons shows that exclusive Higgs production can happen and could be observed with a proper experimental setup.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1248225
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-THESIS-2013-43; 1425641
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Measurement of exclusive production in proton–proton collisions at with the ATLAS detector
Measurement of the Cross Section for Production of Prompt Diphoton in proton anti-proton Collisions at √s = 1.96-TeV