Measurement of the production cross section for single top quarks in association with W bosons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a precise measurement of the single top quark production in association with a W boson at 13 TeV, confirming the Standard Model prediction using CMS data from the LHC.

Contribution

First measurement of the tW production cross section at 13 TeV with detailed analysis and background separation techniques.

Findings

Measured cross section: 63.1 pb with uncertainties

Results agree with Standard Model expectations

Used multivariate analysis to distinguish signal from background

Abstract

A measurement is presented of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV by the CMS Collaboration at the CERN LHC. The data collected corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The measurement is performed using events with one electron and one muon in the final state along with at least one jet originated from a bottom quark. A multivariate discriminant, exploiting the kinematic properties of the events, is used to separate the signal from the dominant $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ background. The measured cross section of 63.1 $\pm$ 1.8 (stat) $\pm$ 6.4 (syst) $\pm$ 2.1 (lumi) pb is in agreement with the standard model expectation.