Search for High-Mass Resonances Decaying to $\tau\nu$ in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for high-mass particles decaying to tau neutrinos in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, setting limits on new heavy W' bosons with no significant excess found over the Standard Model predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first constraints on W' boson masses decaying to tau neutrinos at 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector data.

Findings

Excluded W' bosons with masses below 3.7 TeV in the Sequential Standard Model.

Set upper limits on the visible tau neutrino production cross section.

No significant deviation from the Standard Model observed.

Abstract

A search for high-mass resonances decaying to $\tau\nu$ using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV produced by the Large Hadron Collider is presented. Only $\tau$-lepton decays with hadrons in the final state are considered. The data were recorded with the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed; model-independent upper limits are set on the visible $\tau\nu$ production cross section. Heavy $W^{\prime}$ bosons with masses less than 3.7 TeV in the Sequential Standard Model and masses less than 2.2-3.8 TeV depending on the coupling in the non-universal G(221) model are excluded at the 95% credibility level.