Measurements of differential cross-sections of $WbWb$ production in the dilepton channel in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Abstract

At the Large Hadron Collider, the $WbWb$ final state is expected to be dominated by $t\bar{t}$ production with a contribution from single-top processes. Differential cross-sections for $WbWb$ production in the dilepton decay channel are measured at the particle level as a function of various kinematic variables. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider over the period from 2015 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. Measurements are performed within the fiducial phase-space defined by the presence of two $b$-jets and one electron and one muon of opposite charges. The differential cross-sections are corrected for detector effects and unfolded to the particle level. Results are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo event generators at next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. These measurements provide valuable constraints on the modelling of $WbWb$ production and the interference between doubly resonant and singly resonant $WbWb$ production.