Search for Graviton Resonances of Extra Dimension Models at the LHC

A search for new exotic particles decaying to VZ was performed, where Vis either a W or a Z boson decaying hadronically into two overlapping jets andthe Z decays into a pair of electrons or muons. The analysis uses a data sampleof proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 fb−1collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Colliderat a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV in 2011. No significant excess was observedin the mass distribution of the VZ candidates compared with the backgroundexpectation from Standard Model processes. Therefore, upper limits at the 95%confidence level were set on the product of the cross section times the branchingfraction of hypothetical particles decaying to the VZ final state, as a function ofthe mass, in two benchmark models. In the Randall-Sundrum model for graviton resonances with k / M Pl = 0.05, masses between 750 and 924 GeV/c2 wereexcluded. Sequential Standard Model W bosons with masses between 700 and929 GeV/c2 were also excluded. These are the first results from the LHC on VZsearches using final states with a boosted massive jet and a lepton pair.