Measurement of\(b\bar b\) correlations at the CERN\(p\bar p\) collider

We report on measurements of correlated\(b\bar b\) production in\(p\bar p\) collisions at\(\sqrt s = 630GeV\), using dimuon data to tag both theb and\(\bar b\) quarks. Starting from an inclusive dimuon sample we obtain improved cross-sections for single inclusive beauty production and confirm our earlier results on\(B^0 - \bar B^0\) mixing. From a study of\(b\bar b\) correlations we derive explicit cross-sections for semi-differential\(b\bar b\) production. We compare the measured cross-sections and correlations to\(\mathcal{O}\left( {\alpha _s^3 } \right)\) QCD predictions and find good quantitative agreement. From the measured angular distributions we establish a size-able contribution from higher order QCD processes with a significance of about seven standard deviations. A large nonperturbative contribution to these higher order corrections is excluded.