Eur. Phys. J. C (2020) 80: 912
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-08499-2

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

LHC constraints on $W^{\prime },Z^{\prime }$ that couple mainly to third generation fermions

¹ Department of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Ozyegin University, 34794, Istanbul, Turkey
² Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, SKLPPC, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd., Minhang, 200240, Shanghai, China
³ Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, No.  1, Sec.  4, Roosevelt Rd., 106, Taipei, Taiwan
⁴ Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, No.  101, Sec.  2, Kuang Fu Rd., 300, Hsinchu, Taiwan
⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, 3800, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

^a alper.hayreter@ozyegin.edu.tr

Received: 19 December 2019
Accepted: 26 September 2020
Published online: 3 November 2020

Abstract

We use the results of CMS and ATLAS searches for resonances that decay to $\tau \nu$ or tb and ${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ or $t\overline{t}$ final states to constrain the parameters of non-universal $W^{\prime }$ and $Z^{\prime }$ gauge bosons that couple preferentially to the third generation. For the former we consider production from $c\overline{b}$ annihilation and find very weak constraints on the strength of the interaction and only for the mass range between 800 and 1100 GeV from the $pp\to {\tau }_h{p}_T^{\mathrm{miss}}$ channel. The constraints on the latter are much stronger and arise from both $t\overline{t}$ and ${\tau }^{+}{\tau }^{-}$ production. Treated separately, we find that the weak constraints on the $W^{\prime }$ still permit an explanation of the $R(D^{(\star )})$ anomalies with a light sterile neutrino whereas the stronger constraints on the $Z^{\prime }$ exclude significant light sterile neutrino contributions to the $K\to \pi \nu \overline{\nu }$ rates. Within specific models the masses of $W^{\prime }$ and $Z^{\prime }$ are of course related and we briefly discuss the consequences.