We present a measurement of the distribution of the variable phi(eta)* for muon pairs with masses between 30 and 500 GeV, using the complete run II data set collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton collider. This corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 10.4 fb(-1) at root s = 1.96 TeV.
The data are corrected for detector effects and presented in bins of dimuon rapidity and mass. The variable phi(eta)* probes the same physical effects as the Z/gamma* boson transverse momentum, but is less susceptible to the effects of experimental resolution and efficiency.
These are the first measurements at any collider of the phi(eta)* distributions for dilepton masses away from the Z --> l(+)l(-) boson mass peak. The data are compared to QCD predictions based on the resummation of multiple soft gluons.