Search for W' to tb decays in the lepton + jets final state in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

Understand

Results are presented from a search for the production of a heavy gauge boson W' decaying into a top and a bottom quark, using a data set collected by the CMS experiment at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns.

• Various models of W'-boson production are studied by allowing for an arbitrary combination of left- and right-handed couplings.
• The analysis is based on the detection of events with a lepton (e, mu), jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state.
• No evidence for W'-boson production is found and 95% confidence level upper limits on the production cross section times branching fraction are obtained.