Search for a narrow, spin-2 resonance decaying to a pair of Z bosons in the q(q)over-barl(+)l(-) final state

Abstract

Results are presented from a search for a narrow, spin-2 resonance decaying into a pair of Z bosons, with one Z-boson decaying into leptons (e(+)e(-) or mu(+)mu(-)) and the other into jets. An example of such a resonance is the Kaluza-Klein graviton, G(KK), predicted in Randall-Sundrum models. The analysis is based on a 4.9 fb(-1) sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Kinematic and topological properties including decay angular distributions are used to discriminate between signal and background. No evidence for a resonance is observed, and upper limits on the production cross sections times branching fractions are set. In two models that predict Z-boson spin correlations in graviton decays, graviton masses are excluded lower than a value which varies between 610 and 945 GeV, depending on the model and the strength of the graviton couplings. (C) 2012 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.