Measurement of the W to tau nu Cross Section in pp Collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

Abstract

The cross section for the production of W bosons with subsequent decay W to tau nu is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on a data sample that was recorded in 2010 at a proton-proton center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The cross section is measured in a region of high detector acceptance and then extrapolated to the full phase space. The product of the total W production cross section and the W to tau nu branching ratio is measured to be 11.1 _s16/- 0.3 (stat) _s16/- 1.7 (syst) _s16/- 0.4 (lumi) nb.