Search for a narrow, spin-2 resonance decaying to a pair of Z bosons in the qq¯ℓ+ℓ− final state

Abstract Results are presented from a search for a narrow, spin-2 resonance decaying into a pair of Z bosons, with one Z-boson decaying into leptons ( e + e − or μ + μ − ) and the other into jets. An example of such a resonance is the Kaluza–Klein graviton, G KK , predicted in Randall–Sundrum models. The analysis is based on a 4.9 fb −1 sample of proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Kinematic and topological properties including decay angular distributions are used to discriminate between signal and background. No evidence for a resonance is observed, and upper limits on the production cross sections times branching fractions are set. In two models that predict Z-boson spin correlations in graviton decays, graviton masses are excluded lower than a value which varies between 610 and 945 GeV, depending on the model and the strength of the graviton couplings.