Probing Color Octet Electrons at the LHC

Abstract

Models with quark and lepton compositeness predict the existence of colored partners of the Standard Model leptons. In this paper we study the LHC phenomenology of a charged colored lepton partner, namely the color octet electron, $e_8$ in an effective theory framework. We explore various mechanisms for resonant production of $e_8$'s. With the pair production channel the 14 TeV LHC can probe $e_8$'s with masses up to 2.5 TeV (2.8 TeV) with 100 fb$^{-1}$ (300 fb$^{-1}$) of integrated luminosity. A common feature in all the resonant production channels is the presence of two high $p_T$ electrons and at least one high $p_T$ jet in the final state. Using this feature, we implement a search method where the signal is a combination of pair and single production events. This method has potential to increase the LHC reach significantly. Using the combined signal we estimate the LHC discovery potential for the $e_8$'s. Our analysis shows that the LHC with 14 TeV center-of-mass energy and 100 fb$^{-1}$ (300 fb$^{-1}$) of integrated luminosity can probe $e_8$'s with masses up to 3.4 TeV (4 TeV) for the compositeness scale of 5 TeV.