Search for leptonic decays of W' bosons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=8 TeV

A search for a new heavy gauge boson W$^{\prime}$ decaying to an electron or muon and a low mass neutrino is presented. This analysis uses 2012 data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.7~fb$^{-1}$, collected using the CMS detector in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8~TeV at the LHC. No significant excess of events above the standard model expectation is found in the transverse mass distribution of the lepton-neutrino system. Mass exclusion limits at 95\% CL for a SM-like W$^{\prime}$ boson are determined. These results are also interpreted in the framework of split universal extra dimensions and exclusion limits on Kaluza--Klein W$^{2}_{KK}$ states are set. Another reinterpretation of the channel W$^{\prime}\rightarrow \mu \nu$ is performed in terms of compositeness with preons being fundamental constituents of fermions. A limit on the preon binding energy $\Lambda$, which would manifest itself as a four-fermion contact interaction, is set.