/ hep-ex CMS-TOP-12-040

Observation of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV

Abstract: The first observation of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson is presented. The analysis is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.2 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Events with two leptons and a jet originating from a b quark are selected. A multivariate analysis based on kinematic and topological properties is used to separate the signal from the dominant t t-bar background. An excess consistent with the signal hypothesis is observed, with a significance which corresponds to 6.1 standard deviations above a background-only hypothesis. The measured production cross section is 23.4 +/- 5.4 pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction.

Note: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

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