Muon pair and tau pair production in two photon collisions at LEP

Collaboration
Feb, 2004
10 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Lett.B 585 (2004) 53-62
e-Print:
Report number:
  • CERN-EP-2003-080
Experiments:

Citations per year

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Abstract:
The QED processes e^+ e^- -> e^+ e^- \mu^+ \mu^- and e^+ e^- -> e^+ e^- \tau^+ \tau^- are studied with the L3 detector at LEP using an untagged data sample collected at centre-of-mass energies 161 GeV < sqrt{s} < 209 GeV. The tau-pairs are observed through the associated decay of one tau into e\nu\nu and the other into \pi\pi\nu . The cross sections are measured as a function of sqrt{s}. For muon pairs, the cross section of the \gamma\gamma -> \mu^+\mu^- process is also measured as a function of the two-photon centre-of-mass energy for 3 GeV < W_{\gamma\gamma} < 40 GeV. Good agreement is found between these measurements and the O(\alpha^4) QED expectations. In addition, limits on the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton are extracted.
  • electron positron: colliding beams
  • exchange: two-photon
  • photon photon: interaction
  • muon: pair production
  • tau: pair production
  • tau: semileptonic decay
  • tau: leptonic decay
  • channel cross section: energy dependence
  • tau: magnetic moment
  • tau: electric moment