Diffractive W and Z Production at Tevatron

Preliminary results on diffractive W and Z production in proton-antiproton collisions at a c.m.s. energy of 1.96 TeV are presented and discussed. Differential cross sections are measured from data collected with the CDF-II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider using a Roman pot spectrometer that detects leading antiprotons. The ratio of diffractive to total W production rates (diffractive fraction) agrees with that measured by CDF in Run-I using a rapidity gap diffractive signature. The W and Z diffractive fractions are equal within the measurement uncertainties, which are dominated by a 20% statistical uncertainty in the diffractive Z measurement. Prospects for extending the diffractive W a nd Z studies at the Large Hadron Collider are discussed.

K. Goulianos · 2009