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Observation of diffractively produced W and Z bosons in PP¯ collisions at sqrt[s]=1.8 TeV.

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>13/11/2003
<mark>Journal</mark>Physics Letters B
Issue number3-4
Volume574
Number of pages11
Pages (from-to)169-179
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Using the DØ detector, we have observed events produced in collisions that contain W or Z bosons in conjunction with very little energy deposition (“rapidity gaps”) in large forward regions of the detector. The fraction of W boson events with a rapidity gap (a signature for diffraction) is 0.89±0.190.17%, and the probability that the non-diffractive background fluctuated to yield the observed diffractive signal is 3×10−14, corresponding to a significance of 7.5 σ. The Z boson sample has a gap fraction of 1.44±0.610.52%, with a significance of 4.4 σ. The diffractive events have very similar properties to the more common non-diffractive component.