| The existence of a heavy partner of the Z boson, a so-called Z' boson, is proposed in many extensions of the Standard Model, including grand unified theories, extended tecnhicolor models, and models with extra dimensions. This dissertation describes a direct search in the di-electron invariant mass spectrum for evidence of Z' production. The analysis used 1.106 +/- 0.067 fb-1 of data collected from 2002 to 2006 with the D0 detector, which studies pp interactions at a center-of-mass energy of s = 1.96 TeV.; In the absence of a Z' signal, a 95% upper limit on the production cross section is set for a Z' decaying into dielectrons. The existence of a Z' with mass less than 920 GeV is excluded at, the 95% confidence level, assuming the sequential Z' model. This result represents a significant improvement over the most stringent published limit from a direct search to date, namely 850 GeV. |
