Measurement of the cross section for production of boverline b X decaying to muons in pp collisions at sqrt {s} = 7 TeV

A measurement of the inclusive cross section for the process pp → {{b}}overline {{b}} {{X}} → μμX' at sqrt {s} = 7 TeV is presented, based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.9 pb^-1 collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. By selecting pairs of muons each with pseudorapidity | η| < 2.1, the value σ(pp → {{b}}overline {{b}} {{X}} → μμX') = 26.4 ± 0.1 (stat.) ±2.4 (syst.) ±1.1 (lumi.) nb is obtained for muons with transverse momentum p _T > 4 GeV, and 5.12 ± 0.03 (stat.) ± 0.48 (syst.) ± 0.20 (lumi.) nb for p _T > 6 GeV. These results are compared to QCD predictions at leading and next-to-leading orders.