Searching for dilepton resonances below the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>Z</mml:mi></mml:math>mass at the LHC

Abstract

We consider LHC searches for dilepton resonances in an intermediate mass range, $\ensuremath{\sim}10--80\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. We adopt a kinetically mixed ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ as an example of weakly coupled new physics that might have evaded detection at previous experiments but which could still be probed by LHC dilepton spectrum measurements in this mass range. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate that existing data from the 7 and 8 TeV LHC could be used to test values of the kinetic mixing parameter $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ several times smaller than precision electroweak upper bounds, provided an appropriate analysis were carried out by one of the experimental collaborations.