Measurement of the $W^+W^-$ Production Cross Section and Search for Anomalous $WW\gamma$ and $WWZ$ Couplings in $p \bar p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV

This Letter describes the current most precise measurement of the W boson pair productioncross section and most sensitive test of anomalous WW{gamma} and WWZ couplings in p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The WW candidates are reconstructed from decays containing two charged leptons and two neutrinos, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector from 3.6 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity, a total of 654 candidate events are observed with an expected background contribution of 320 {+-} 47 events. The measured total cross section is {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} W{sup +}W{sup -} + X) = 12.1 {+-} 0.9 (stat){sub -1.4}{sup +1.6} (syst) pb, which is in good agreement with the standard model prediction. The same data sample is used to place constraints on anomalous WW{gamma} and WWZ couplings.