Search for a W' Boson via the Decay Mode W' -> mu nu in 1.8 TeV p-pbar Collisions

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for a hypothetical W' boson in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV, finding no evidence and setting mass exclusion limits below 660 GeV/c².

Contribution

First search for W' boson via mu nu decay mode at 1.8 TeV p-pbar collisions, establishing new mass exclusion limits.

Findings

No excess events observed above background

Excluded W' boson masses below 660 GeV/c² at 95% confidence level

Set limits on W' production rate relative to Standard Model W boson

Abstract

We report the results of a search for a W' boson produced in p-pbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV using a 107 pb-1 data sample recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We consider the decay channel W' -> mu nu and search for anomalous production of high transverse mass mu-nu lepton pairs. We observe no excess of events above background and set limits on the rate of W' boson production and decay relative to Standard Model W boson production and decay using a fit of the transverse mass distribution observed. If we assume Standard Model strength couplings of the W' boson to quark and lepton pairs, we exclude a W' boson with invariant mass less than 660 GeV/c**2 at 95% confidence level.