Search for leptonic decays of W' bosons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for new heavy W' bosons decaying to leptons and neutrinos in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV, setting mass exclusion limits based on CMS data with no observed excess.

Contribution

First search for W' bosons in leptonic decay channels at 7 TeV using CMS data, establishing new mass exclusion limits for various W' models and Kaluza-Klein states.

Findings

No significant excess observed over standard model expectations.

Excluded W' boson masses up to 2.5 TeV for right-handed models.

Set limits on Kaluza-Klein W states in extra dimension models.

Abstract

A search for a new heavy gauge boson W' decaying to an electron or muon, plus a low mass neutrino, is presented. This study uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarns, collected using the CMS detector in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. Events containing a single electron or muon and missing transverse momentum are analyzed. No significant excess of events above the standard model expectation is found in the transverse mass distribution of the lepton-neutrino system, and upper limits for cross sections above different transverse mass thresholds are presented. Mass exclusion limits at 95% CL for a range of W' models are determined, including a limit of 2.5 TeV for right-handed W' bosons with standard-model-like couplings and limits of 2.43--2.63 TeV for left-handed W' bosons, taking into account their interference with the standard model W boson. Exclusion limits have also been set on Kaluza--Klein W[KK] states in the framework of split universal extra dimensions.