LHC signatures of a Z ′ mediator between dark matter and the SU(3) sector

In this paper, we study the experimental signatures of a gluophilic z ′ at the lhc, in particular through the analysis of three jets or four tops events. the z ′ couples to gluons through dimension six operators and the parameter space is constrained with experimental searches released at 7 and 8 tev by cms along these two different channels. existing constraints coming from the study of dark matter where the z ′ represents a possible mediator between the latter and the standard model are also included for comparison. prospects at $$ sqrt{s}=13 $$ tev allow us to evaluate for which values of the parameter space a gluophilic z ′ could be discovered during the next run of the lhc. in particular, we show that the analysis of the three jets invariant mass could provide a clear signal (>5σ) for masses of the z ′ above 300 gev. four tops events bring in addition further discovery potential for heavy z ′ (above ∼ 2 tev). a combination of both signals in four top channels and three jets analyses during the next run of the lhc could thus provide a clear signal of the presence of a heavy gluophilic z ′.