Observation of Exclusive Electron-Positron Production in Hadron-Hadron Collisions

We present the first observation of exclusive e{sup +}e{sup -} production in hadron-hadron collisions, using p{bar p} collision data at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV taken by the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 532 pb{sup -1}. We require the absence of any particle signatures in the detector except for an electron and a positron candidate, each with transverse energy E{sub T} > 5 GeV and pseudorapidity |{eta}| < 2. With these criteria, 16 events are observed compared to a background expectation of 1.9 {+-} 0.3 events. These events are consistent in cross section and properties with the QED process p{bar p} {yields} p + e{sup +}e{sup -} + {bar p} through two-photon exchange. The measured cross section is 1.6{sub -0.3}{sup +0.5}(stat) {+-} 0.3(syst) pb. This agrees with the theoretical prediction of 1.71 {+-} 0.01 pb.