Search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for new heavy resonances decaying into boson pairs in the all-jets final state using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data, employing machine learning for jet identification, and sets new exclusion limits on various models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis using machine learning to identify boosted boson jets and provides the most stringent exclusion limits to date on several heavy resonance models.

Findings

No significant excess observed over the standard model background.

Excludes Z' and W' resonances below 4.8 TeV in the heavy vector triplet model.

Excludes spin-2 gravitons below 1.4 TeV and spin-0 radions below 2.7 TeV.

Abstract

A search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS detector in 2016-2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The search is sensitive to resonances with masses between 1.3 and 6 TeV, decaying to bosons that are highly Lorentz-boosted such that each of the bosons forms a single large-radius jet. Machine learning techniques are employed to identify such jets. No significant excess over the estimated standard model background is observed. A maximum local significance of 3.6 standard deviations, corresponding to a global significance of 2.3 standard deviations, is observed at masses of 2.1 and 2.9 TeV. In a heavy vector triplet model, spin-1 Z' and W' resonances with masses below 4.8 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level (CL). These limits are the most stringent to date. In a bulk graviton model, spin-2 gravitons and spin-0 radions with masses below 1.4 and 2.7 TeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% CL. Production of heavy resonances through vector boson fusion is constrained with upper cross section limits at 95% CL as low as 0.1 fb.