First measurement of sigma (p anti-p ---> Z) . Br (Z ---> tau tau) at s**(1/2) = 1.96- TeV

The authors present a measurement of the cross section for Z production times the branching fraction to {tau} leptons, {sigma} {center_dot} Br(Z {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -}), in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV in the channel in which one {tau} decays into {mu}{nu}{sub {mu}}{nu}{sub {tau}}, and the other into hadrons + {nu}{sub {tau}} or e{nu}{sub e}{nu}{sub {tau}}. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 226 pb{sup -1} collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The final sample contains 2008 candidate events with an estimated background of 55%. From this they obtain {sigma} {center_dot} Br(Z {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -}) = 237 {+-} 15(stat) {+-} 18(sys) {+-} 15(lum) pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction.