Four-lepton production from photon-induced reactions in $pp$ collisions at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper calculates the cross sections for photon-induced four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, highlighting its potential as both a measurable process and a background for other four-lepton events.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed calculation of the $ ightarrow 4 ext{leptons}$ process at LHC energies, emphasizing its significance in experimental analyses.

Findings

Photon-induced $ ightarrow 4 ext{leptons}$ cross sections are sizable at the LHC.

This process can serve as a background to other four-lepton measurements.

The study demonstrates the feasibility of observing this electroweak process at the LHC.

Abstract

The cross sections for the reaction $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow 4\ell$ in proton--proton collisions are calculated at the LHC energies. We show that the purely electroweak process $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow 4\ell$ can be studied at the LHC and can constitute a background to other processes with $4\ell$ or $2\ell$ final states.