Z' production at the LHC in the four-site Higgsless model

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the neutral gauge boson sector of the four-site Higgsless model, updating constraints and exploring discovery prospects at the Tevatron and LHC, emphasizing the model's sizeable couplings to Standard Model fermions.

Contribution

It provides new limits on Z' boson masses and couplings, and assesses the discovery potential at current colliders within the four-site Higgsless framework.

Findings

New limits on Z_{1,2} masses from Tevatron data

Potential discovery of Z_{1,2} at the 7 TeV LHC within two years

Model predicts sizeable Z' couplings to SM fermions, unlike other Higgsless models

Abstract

We study the phenomenology of the neutral gauge sector of the four-site Higgsless model, based on the SU(2)_L x SU(2)_1 x SU(2)_2 x U(1)_Y gauge symmetry, at present colliders. The model predicts the existence of two neutral and four charged extra gauge bosons, Z_{1,2} and W^\pm_{1,2}. We expand and update a previous study, by concentrating on the neutral sector. We derive new limits on Z_{1,2}-boson masses and couplings from recent direct searches at the Tevatron. We moreover estimate the discovery potential at the Tevatron with a project luminosity L=10 fb^{-1}, and at the 7 TeV LHC with L=1 fb^{-1}. In contrast to other Higgsless theories characterized by almost fermiophobic extra gauge bosons, the four-site model allows sizeable Z_{1,2}-boson couplings to SM fermions. Owing to this feature, we find that in the next two years the extra Z_{1,2}-bosons could be discovered in the favoured Drell-Yan channel at the 7 TeV LHC for Z_{1,2} masses in the TeV region, depending on model parameters.