Measurement of exclusive γγ → WþW− production and search for exclusive Higgs boson production in pp collisions at s= 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Abstract

Searches for exclusively produced W boson pairs in the process pp(γγ)→pW+W−p and an exclusively produced Higgs boson in the process pp(gg)→pHp have been performed using e±μ∓final states. These measurements use 20.2 fb− 1 of pp collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment at a center-of-mass energy √s= 8 TeV at the LHC. Exclusive production of W+W− consistent with the Standard Model prediction is found with 3.0σ significance. The exclusive W+W− production cross section is determined to be σ(γγ→W+W−→e±μ∓X)=6.9±2.2(stat)± 1.4 (sys) fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set at 95% confidence level as −1.7×10−6<aW0/Λ2<1.7× 10−6 GeV−2 and −6.4×10−6<aWC/Λ2<6.3×10−6 GeV−2. A 95% confidence-level upper limit on the total production cross section for an exclusive Higgs boson is set to 1.2 pb.