Search for vector-boson resonances decaying to a top quark and bottom quark in the lepton plus jets final state in pp collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

A search for new charged massive gauge bosons, W , is performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data were collected in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13TeVand correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1fb−1. This analysis searches for W bosons in the W →t¯ bdecay channel in final states with an electron or muon plus jets. The search covers resonance masses between 0.5 and 5.0TeVand considers right-handed W bosons. No significant deviation from the Standard Model (SM) expectation is observed and upper limits are set on the W →t¯ bcross section times branching ratio and the W boson effective couplings as a function of the W boson mass. For right-handed W bosons with coupling to the SM particles equal to the SM weak coupling constant, masses below 3.15TeVare excluded at the 95% confidence level. This search is also combined with a previously published ATLAS result for W →t¯ bin the fully hadronic final state. Using the combined searches, right-handed W bosons with masses below 3.25TeVare excluded at the 95% confidence level.