First Measurement of the b-jet Cross Section in Events with a W Boson in p-pbar Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports the first measurement of the b-jet production cross section in events with a W boson at Tevatron, revealing discrepancies with existing theoretical models and aiding top quark and Higgs boson studies.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental measurement of the W+b-jet cross section at Tevatron energies, highlighting gaps in current theoretical predictions.

Findings

Measured cross section: 2.74 +- 0.27(stat.) +- 0.42(syst.) pb

Result exceeds several theoretical predictions

Data aids in background estimation for top and Higgs searches

Abstract

The cross section for jets from b quarks produced with a W boson has been measured in ppbar collision data from 1.9/fb of integrated luminosity recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. The W+b-jets process poses a significant background in measurements of top quark production and prominent searches for the Higgs boson. We measure a b-jet cross section of 2.74 +- 0.27(stat.) +- 0.42(syst.) pb in association with a single flavor of leptonic W boson decay over a limited kinematic phase space. This measured result cannot be accommodated in several available theoretical predictions.