Measurement of the cross section for production of bb¯¯X decaying to muons in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Abstract

A measurement of the inclusive cross section for the process pp → bb¯¯¯X → μμX′ at s√=7 TeV is presented, based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.9 pb−1 collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. By selecting pairs of muons each with pseudorapidity |η| < 2.1, the value σ(pp → bb¯¯¯X → μμX′) = 26.4 ± 0.1 (stat.) ±2.4 (syst.) ±1.1 (lumi.) nb is obtained for muons with transverse momentum p T > 4 GeV, and 5.12 ± 0.03 (stat.) ± 0.48 (syst.) ± 0.20 (lumi.) nb for p T > 6 GeV. These results are compared to QCD predictions at leading and next-to-leading orders.