A search for the production of pairs of heavy Majorana neutrinos (N$_{ℓ}$) from the decays of Z′ bosons is performed using the CMS detector at the LHC. The data were collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. The signature for the search is an excess in the invariant mass distribution of the final-state objects, two same-flavor leptons (e or μ) and at least two jets. No significant excess of events beyond the expected background is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the Z′ production cross section and its branching fraction to a pair of N$_{ℓ}$, as functions of N$_{ℓ}$ and Z′ boson masses ($ {m}_{{\textrm{N}}_{\ell }} $ and $ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $, respectively) for $ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $ from 0.4 to 4.6 TeV and $ {m}_{{\textrm{N}}_{\ell }} $ from 0.1 TeV to $ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $/2. In the theoretical framework of a left-right symmetric model, exclusion bounds in the $ {m}_{{\textrm{N}}_{\ell }} $-$ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $ plane are presented in both the electron and muon channels. The observed upper limit on $ {m}_{{\textrm{Z}}^{\prime }} $ reaches up to 4.42 TeV. These are the most restrictive limits to date on the mass of N$_{ℓ}$ as a function of the Z′ boson mass.[graphic not available: see fulltext]
Benecke, A., Bruno, G., Bury, F., Caputo, C., David, P., Delaere, C., Donertas, I. S., Giammanco, A., Jaffel, K., Jain, S., Jain, S., Lemaitre, V., Mondal, K., Prisciandaro, J., Taliercio, A., Tran, T. T., Vischia, P., Wertz, S., CMS, et al. (2023). Search for Z′ bosons decaying to pairs of heavy Majorana neutrinos in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 11. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)181 (Original work published 2023)