WZproduction at hadron colliders: Effects of nonstandardWWZcouplings and QCD corrections

The process ${\mathit{pp}}^{\left(\mathrm{-}\right)}$→${\mathit{W}}^{\pm }$Z+X→${\mathit{l}}_1^{\pm }$ ${\nu }_1$ ${\mathit{l}}_2^{+}$ ${\mathit{l}}_2^{\mathrm{-}}$+X is calculated to O(${\mathrm{\alpha }}_{\mathit{s}}$) for general C- and P- conserving WWZ couplings. At the Fermilab Tevatron center-of-mass energy, the QCD corrections to WZ production are modest. At CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies, the inclusive QCD corrections are large, but can be reduced significantly if a jet veto is imposed. The sensitivity limits for the anomalous WWZ couplings are derived from the next-to-leading order Z boson transverse momentum distribution for Tevatron and LHC energies. Unless a jet veto is imposed, O(${\mathrm{\alpha }}_{\mathit{s}}$) QCD corrections decrease the sensitivity to anomalous WWZ couplings considerably at LHC energies, but have little influence at the Tevatron. We also study, at next-to-leading order, rapidity correlations between the W and Z decay products, and the ZZ/WZ and WZ/Wγ cross section ratios. These quantities are found to be useful tools in searching for the approximate zero present in the standard model WZ helicity amplitudes. The prospects for observing the approximate amplitude zero at the Tevatron and the LHC are critically assessed.