Search for Hadronic Decays of W and Z Bosons in Photon Events in ppbar Collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 GeV

TL;DR

This paper searches for hadronic decays of W and Z bosons in photon events from proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV, using neural networks to improve signal detection and setting an upper limit on production cross section.

Contribution

It introduces a neural network-based event selection method that enhances detection sensitivity for W/Z hadronic decays in photon events at Tevatron energies.

Findings

Neural network improves signal-to-noise ratio.

Set an upper limit on gamma+W/Z production cross section.

Demonstrated effectiveness of machine learning in collider data analysis.

Abstract

We report on a search for the process $p\bar{p}\to \gamma+W/Z$ with $W/Z\to q\bar{q}$ in events containing two jets and a photon at the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, using 184 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the CDF II detector. A neural network event selection has been developed to optimize the rejection of the large QCD production background; it is shown that this method gives a significant improvement in both signal-to-noise ratio and signal sensitivity, as compared with an event selection based on conventional cuts. An upper limit is presented for the $\gamma+W/Z$ production cross section with the $W$ and $Z$ decaying hadronically.