Measurement of w gamma and z gamma production in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

We present studies of W and Z bosons with associated high energy photons produced in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV. The analysis uses 35 pb(-1) of data collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2010. The event selection requires W and Z bosons decaying into high pT leptons (electrons or muons) and a photon with E-T > 15 GeV separated from the lepton(s) by a distance Delta R(l, gamma) > 0.7 in eta-phi space. A total of 95 (97) pp -> e(+/-)nu gamma + X (pp -> mu(+/-)nu gamma + X) and 25 (23) pp -> e(+)e(-)gamma + X (pp -> mu(+)mu(-)gamma + X) event candidates are selected. The kinematic distributions of the leptons and photons and the production cross sections are measured. The data are found to agree with Standard Model predictions that include next-to-leading-order O(alpha alpha(s)) contributions.