Calculation of W b bbar Production via Double Parton Scattering at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores the feasibility of observing double parton scattering in W b bbar production at the LHC, proposing kinematic variables to distinguish it from backgrounds and estimating its measurable significance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to identify double parton scattering in W b bbar production using specific kinematic variables and NLO predictions, enhancing detection strategies at the LHC.

Findings

Double parton scattering can be observed with significance ~10.

Identification is feasible if the effective cross section is around 12 mb.

NLO predictions are crucial for accurate observable descriptions.

Abstract

We investigate the potential to observe double parton scattering at the Large Hadron Collider in p p -> W b bbar X -> l nu b bbar X at 7 TeV. Our analysis tests the efficacy of several kinematic variables in isolating the double parton process of interest from the single parton process and relevant backgrounds for the first 10 inverse fb of integrated luminosity. These variables are constructed to expose the independent nature of the two subprocesses in double parton scattering, pp -> l nu X and pp -> b bbar X. We use next-to-leading order perturbative predictions for the double parton and single parton scattering components of W b bbar and for the pertinent backgrounds. The next-to-leading order contributions are important for a proper description of some of the observables we compute. We find that the double parton process can be identified and measured with significance S/sqrt(B) ~ 10, provided the double parton scattering effective cross section sigma_{eff} ~ 12 mb.