Search for Resonances in the Dilepton Mass Distribution in pp Collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

A search for narrow high-mass resonances decaying to electron or muon pairs has been performed using the 8 TeV pp collision data collected by the CMS experiment from April to June 2012. The event samples used correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 4.1~fb$^{-1}$. No evidence for non-standard model physics is observed, and 95\% CL upper limits on the ratio of the cross section times branching fraction of a new boson to the cross section of the Z boson are obtained using this 8 TeV dataset and the 7 TeV dataset collected by the CMS experiment in 2011. These upper limits are interpreted in the context of two Z$^\prime$ models, the Sequential Standard Model with standard model-like couplings and the superstring-inspired Z$^\prime_\psi$. The lower mass limits obtained are 2590~GeV and 2260~GeV respectively, both at 95\% CL. These are the most stringent such limits to date.