On the contribution of the double Drell-Yan process to WW and ZZ production at the LHC

In this paper we investigate consequences of an assumption that the discrepancy of the predicted and observed W+W- production cross sections at the LHC is caused by the missing contribution of the double Drell-Yan process (DDYP). Using our simple model of DDYP of Ref. [1] we show that inclusion of this production mechanism leads to a satisfactory, parameter-free description of the two-lepton mass distribution for 0-jet W+W- events and the four-lepton mass distribution for ZZ events. In such a scenario the Higgs-boson contribution is no longer necessary to describe the data. An experimental programme to prove or falsify such an assumption is proposed.

The LHC excess of four-lepton events interpreted as Higgs-boson signal: background from Double Drell--Yan process?

We construct a simple model of the Double Drell--Yan Process (DDYP) for proton--proton collisions and investigate its possible contribution to the background for the Higgs-boson searches at the LHC. We demonstrate that under the assumption of the predominance of short range, ${cal O}(0.1),$fm, transverse-plane correlations of quark--antiquark pairs within the proton this contribution becomes important and may even explain the observed excess of the four-lepton events at the LHC -- the events interpreted as originating from the Higgs-boson decays: $ H rightarrow ZZ^{*} rightarrow 4l$ and $ H rightarrow WW^{*} rightarrow 2l 2 u$.