A search for Z' bosons in the dimuon decay channel in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions
Coggeshall, James
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/45423
Description
Title
A search for Z' bosons in the dimuon decay channel in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions
Author(s)
Coggeshall, James
Issue Date
2013-08-22T16:39:43Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Liss, Tony M.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Errede, Steven M.
Committee Member(s)
Liss, Tony M.
Cooper, S. Lance
El-Khadra, Aida X.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS)
Z'
dilepton resonances
muon resolution
Abstract
In this thesis, I present a search for $Z'$ bosons in the $\mu^+\mu^-$ 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 $E_6$ Grand Unified Theory.
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