The TopFlavor scheme in the context of $W'$ searches at LHC

Many extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of new charged or neutral gauge bosons, with a wide variety of phenomenological implications depending on the model adopted. The search for such particles is extensively carried through at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and it is therefore of crucial importance to have for each proposed scenario quantitative predictions that can be matched to experiments. In this work we focus on the implications of one of these models, the top-flavor model (TF), proposing a charged <math display="inline"><msup><mi>W</mi><mo>′</mo></msup></math> boson that has preferential couplings to the third-generation fermions. We compare such predictions to the ones from the so-called sequential Standard Model (SSM), that is used as benchmark, being one of the simplest and most commonly considered models for searches at the LHC. We identify the parameter space still open for searches at the LHC, and we show that the cross sections for the processes <math display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msup><mi>W</mi><mo>′</mo></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>τ</mi><mi>ν</mi></math> and <math display="inline"><mi>p</mi><mi>p</mi><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><msup><mi>W</mi><mo>′</mo></msup><mo stretchy="false">→</mo><mi>t</mi><mi>b</mi></math> in the TF assume different values with respect to the SSM as a function of the particle mass and width and that the TF has realizations that would not be allowed in the SSM and not yet excluded by data. This study makes the case for further searches at the LHC and shows how a complete and systematic model-independent analysis of <math display="inline"><msup><mi>W</mi><mo>′</mo></msup></math> boson phenomenology at colliders is essential to provide guidance for future searches.