A search for Z' bosons in the dimuon decay channel in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions

In this thesis, I present a search for $Z'$ bosons in the μ⁺μ^- decay channel using 20 fb^-1 of $p$-$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8 $ TeV, produced during the 2012 run at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using the ATLAS detector to record the collision products. The search proceeds via a comparison of the reconstructed dimuon invariant mass distribution with the expected distribution, given Standard Model only sources of background. In addition to the ``official'' ATLAS dimuon selection, I present a new dimuon selection, designed for this analysis, whose purpose is to increase the sensitivity of the search relative to the official selection. I observe no statistically significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation, and proceed to place new lower limits on the masses of $Z'$ bosons inspired by the E₆ Grand Unified Theory.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Coggeshall, James

Contributors dc:contributor

• Liss, Tony M.
• Errede, Steven M.
• Cooper, S. Lance
• El-Khadra, Aida X.

• Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
• European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
• Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS)
• Z'
• dilepton resonances
• muon resolution

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 James Coggeshall

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45423

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/45423