Production of vector resonances at the LHC via WZ-scattering: a unitarized EChL analysis

Abstract

In the present work we study the production of vector resonances at the LHC by means of the vector boson scattering WZ → WZ and explore the sensitivities to these resonances for the expected future LHC luminosities. We are assuming that these vector resonances are generated dynamically from the self interactions of the longitudinal gauge bosons, W_L and Z_L, and work under the framework of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian to describe in a model independent way the supposedly strong dynamics of these modes. The properties of the vector resonances, mass, width and couplings to the W and Z gauge bosons are derived from the inverse amplitude method approach. We implement all these features into a single model, the IAM-MC, adapted for MonteCarlo, built in a Lagrangian language in terms of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian and a chiral Lagrangian for the vector resonances, which mimics the resonant behavior of the IAM and provides unitary amplitudes. The model has been implemented in MadGraph, allowing us to perform a realistic study of the signal versus background events at the LHC. In particular, we have focused our study on the pp → WZjj type of events, discussing first on the potential of the hadronic and semileptonic channels of the final WZ, and next exploring in more detail the most clear signals. These are provided by the leptonic decays of the gauge bosons, leading to a final state with ℓ₁⁺ℓ₁⁻ℓ₂⁺νjj, ℓ = e, μ, having a very distinctive signature, and showing clearly the emergence of the resonances with masses in the range of 1.5–2.5 TeV, which we have explored.