UC Santa Barbara

Abstract

A Search for New Physics in Events with Oppositely Charged Dileptons, Jets, and Missing Transverse Energy in Proton-Proton Collisions at 7 TeV Center of Mass Energy

Derek Michael Barge

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femto-barns. The search strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not explicitly considered.