Indication for Double Parton Scatterings in W + Prompt J/Psi Production at the LHC

Abstract

We re-analyse the associated production of a prompt J/psi and a W boson in pp collisions at the LHC following the results of the ATLAS Collaboration. We perform the first study of the Single-Parton-Scattering (SPS) contributions at the Next-to-Leading Order (NLO) in alpha_s in the Colour-Evaporation Model (CEM), an approach based on the quark-hadron-duality. Our study provides clear indications for Double-Parton-Scattering (DPS) contributions, in particular at low transverse momenta, since our SPS CEM evaluation, which can be viewed as a conservative upper limit of the SPS yields, falls short compared to the ATLAS experimental data by 3.1 standard deviations. We also determine a finite allowed region for sigma_eff, inversely proportional to the size of the DPS yields, corresponding to the otherwise opposed hypotheses, namely our NLO CEM evaluation and the LO direct Colour-Singlet (CS) Model contribution. In both cases, the resulting DPS yields are significantly larger than that initially assumed by ATLAS based on jet-related analyses but is consistent with their observed raw-yield azimuthal distribution and with their prompt J/psi+J/psi and Z + prompt J/psi data.