Theory of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>W</mml:mi></mml:math>Production in Nucleon-Nucleon Collisions

Abstract

The cross section for $N+N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}W+N+N$ is calculated in a double peripheral model. The effects of the principle corrections such as absorption, resonant final-state interactions, and the $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\pi}W$ form factor are considered. $\ensuremath{\mu}$ pair production, which is intrinsically related to $W$ production through the conserved vector current, is examined as a means of testing our model and also as a source of background.