Measurement of the cross section for production of b b-bar X, decaying to muons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a measurement of the inclusive b b-bar production cross section in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV, using muon pairs detected by CMS, and compares results with QCD predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of the b b-bar production cross section at 7 TeV in the muon decay channel with detailed systematic analysis.

Findings

Measured cross section for pT > 4 GeV: 26.4 nb

Measured cross section for pT > 6 GeV: 5.12 nb

Results are consistent with QCD predictions

Abstract

A measurement of the inclusive cross section for the process pp to b b-bar X to muon muon X' at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented, based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.9 inverse picobarns collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. By selecting pairs of muons each with pseudorapidity abs(eta)<2.1, the value of the cross section for pp to b b-bar X to muon muon X' is found to be 26.4 +/- 0.1 (stat.) +/- 2.4 (syst.) +/- 1.1 (lumi.) nb is obtained for muons with transverse momentum greater than 4 GeV, and 5.12 +/- 0.03 (stat.) +/- 0.48 (syst.) +/- 0.20 (lumi.) nb for transverse momenta greater than 6 GeV. These results are compared to QCD predictions at leading and next-to-leading orders.