Diboson Physics Studies

This note presents studies of the sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to Standard Model diboson ($W^+ W^-, W^{\pm}Z, ZZ, W^{\pm} \gamma$, and $Z\gamma$) production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 14TeV, using final states containing electrons, muons and photons. The studies use ATLAS simulated data, which include trigger information and detector calibration and alignment corrections. The influence of backgrounds on diboson detection is assessed using large samples of fully simulated background events. The cross-section measurement uncertainties (both statistical and systematic) are estimated as a function of integrated luminosity (from 0.1 to 30 fb$^{-1}$). The studies show that the Standard Model $W^+ W^-, W^{\pm}Z, ZZ, W^{\pm} \gamma$, and $Z\gamma$ signals can be established with significance better than 5$\sigma $ for the first 0.1 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, and the $ZZ$ signal can be established with 1 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The ATLAS experiment's sensitivity to anomalous triple gauge boson couplings is also estimated. The anomalous triple gauge boson coupling sensitivities can be significantly improved, even with 0.1fb$^{-1}$ of data, over the results from the Tevatron that use 1fb$^{-1}$ of data.