Measurement of the WZ cross section and triple gauge couplings in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

This article describes the current most precise measurement of the WZ production cross section as well as limits on anomalous WWZ couplings at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV in proton-antiproton collisions for the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). WZ candidates are reconstructed from decays containing three charged leptons and missing energy from a neutrino, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector (7.1 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity), 63 candidate events are observed with the expected background contributing 8 +/- 1 events. The measured total cross section sigma(p (p) over bar -> WZ) = 3.93(-0.53)(+0.60)(stat)(-0.46)(+0.59)(syst) pb is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of 3.50 +/- 0.21. The same sample is used to set limits on anomalous WWZ couplings.