Search for a W' boson decaying to a muon and a neutrino in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for a hypothetical W' boson decaying into a muon and a neutrino using proton-proton collision data at 7 TeV, setting new mass exclusion limits based on the CMS detector results.

Contribution

The study provides the first combined mass exclusion limit for W' bosons decaying to muons and electrons at the LHC, improving previous bounds.

Findings

No significant excess observed in the transverse mass distribution.

Excluded W' masses below 1.40 TeV at 95% confidence level.

Combined analysis extends the mass exclusion to 1.58 TeV.

Abstract

A new heavy gauge boson, W', decaying to a muon and a neutrino, is searched for in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass of 7 TeV. The data, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. No significant excess of events above the standard model expectation is found in the transverse mass distribution of the muon-neutrino system. Masses below 1.40 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level for a sequential standard-model-like W'. The W' mass lower limit increases to 1.58 TeV when the present analysis is combined with the CMS result for the electron channel.