Hide and seek with the third family hypercharge model’s $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ at the large hadron collider

Abstract

Abstract The Third Family Hypercharge Model predicts a $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ gauge boson with flavour dependent couplings which has been used to explain anomalies in meson decay processes which involve the $$b\rightarrow s\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ b → s μ + μ - transition. The model predicts that a TeV-scale $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ should decay to particle-antiparticle pairs of muons, taus, top quarks and bottom quarks with appreciable branching ratios. We reinterpret various ATLAS and CMS search limits for $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ production followed by such decays at the LHC over a parameter space of the model that results from a successful combined fit to the $$b\rightarrow s l^+ l^-$$ b → s l + l - data and precision electroweak observables. Current exclusions in parameter space and expected sensitivities of the various different channels in the high-luminosity run are compared. We find that the high-luminosity run of the LHC will significantly increase the sensitivity to the model beyond the existing empirical limits, which we find to be surprisingly weak.