Measurement of ZZ production in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV and limits on anomalous ZZZ and ZZγ couplings with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

AbstractA measurement of theZZproduction cross section in proton-proton collisions at$ \sqrt{s}=7 $TeV using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1collected in 2011, events are selected that are consistent either with twoZbosons decaying to electrons or muons or with oneZboson decaying to electrons or muons and a secondZboson decaying to neutrinos. TheZZ(*)→ℓ+ℓ−ℓ′+ℓ′−and$ ZZ\to {\ell^{+}}{\ell^{-}}\nu \overline{\nu} $cross sections are measured in restricted phase-space regions. These results are then used to derive the total cross section forZZevents produced with bothZbosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV,$ \sigma_{ZZ}^{\mathrm{tot}} = 6.7 \pm 0.7\;\,\left( {\mathrm{stat}.} \right)\;\;_{-0.3}^{+0.4}\;\,\left( {\mathrm{syst}.} \right) \pm 0.3\;\,\left( {\mathrm{lumi}.} \right) $pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of$ 5.89_{-0.18}^{+0.22 } $pb calculated at next-to-leading order in QCD. The normalized differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. Finally, the differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leadingZboson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings inZZproduction.