Measurement of the ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV using the ZZ -> l(-) l(+) l '(-) l '(+) and ZZ -> l(-) l(+) nu(nu)over-bar decay channels with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A measurement of the ZZ production cross section in the l(-)l(+)l'(-)l'(+) and l(-)l(+) nu(nu) over bar channels (l = e, mu) in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fi ducial cross sections for ZZ -> l(-)l(+)l'(-)l'(+) and ZZ -> l(-)l(+) nu(nu) over bar are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for ZZ events produced with both Z bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be 7.3 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst) (-0.2)(-0.1) (lumi) pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 6.6(-0.6)(+0.7) pb. The di ff erential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading Z boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in ZZ production.