Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 12/2007 |
---|---|
<mark>Journal</mark> | European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields |
Issue number | 4 |
Volume | 52 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Pages (from-to) | 767-785 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
From a total data sample of 701.1 pb(-1) recorded with e(+)e(-) centre-of- mass energies of root s = 161 - 209 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP, 11693 W-pair candidate events are selected. These data are used to obtain measurements of the W-pair production cross sections at 10 different centre-of-mass energies. The ratio of the measured cross sections to the standard model expectation is found to be:
data/SM = 1.002 +/- 0.011(stat.) +/- 0.007 (syst.) +/- 0.005(theory),
where the uncertainties are statistical, experimental systematics and theory systematics respectively. The data are used to determine the W boson branching fractions, which are found to be consistent with lepton universality of the charged current interaction. Assuming lepton universality, the branching ratio to hadrons is determined to be 67.41 +/- 0.37(stat.) +/- 0.23(syst.)%, from which the CKM matrix element |V-cs| is determined to be 0.969 +/- 0.017(stat.) +/- 0.012(syst.). The differential cross section as a function of the W- production angle is measured for the qqev and qq mu v final states. The results described in this paper are consistent with the expectations from the standard model.