Precise determination of Z-Z' mixing at the CERN LHC

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the sensitivity of the LHC to Z' boson effects through W-boson pair production, providing constraints on Z-Z' mixing angles and masses, and projecting improvements with future data.

Contribution

It offers a model-dependent analysis of Z' effects in W-pair production at the LHC, setting new bounds on Z-Z' mixing angles and suggesting future improvements with higher energy and luminosity.

Findings

Current LHC bounds on Z-Z' mixing are of order a few times 10^{-3}.

Analysis at 8 TeV with 20 fb^{-1} constrains the mixing angle.

Future data at 14 TeV with 100 fb^{-1} could improve constraints to 10^{-4}-10^{-3}.

Abstract

We discuss the expected sensitivity to Z' boson effects in the W^\pm boson pair production process at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The results of a model-dependent analysis of Z' boson effects are presented as constraints on the Z-Z' mixing angle phi and Z' boson mass. The process pp\to W^+W^- + X allows to place stringent constraints on the Z-Z' mixing angle. Specifically, we find that the present LHC bounds on the mixing angle are of the order a few times 10^{-3}, what is of the same order as those derived from the electroweak data. These results were derived from analysis of W-pair production at sqrt{s}=8 TeV and integrated luminosity of 20 fb^{-1}. Further improvement on the constraining of this mixing can be achieved from the analysis of data on WW \to l nu l'nu' (l,l'=e or mu) and WW \to l nu jj final states collected at the LHC with nominal energy and luminosity, 14 TeV and 100 fb^{-1}, and should be phi \sim 10^{-4}-10^{-3}.