Interpretation of Vector-like Quark Searches: Heavy Gluons in Composite Higgs Models

Pair production of new vector-like quarks in pp collisions is considered model independent as it is usually dominated by QCD production. We discuss the interpretation of vector-like quark searches in the case that QCD is not the only relevant production mechanism for the new quarks. In particular we consider the effect of a new massive color octet vector boson with sizeable decay branching ratio into the new quarks. We pay special attention to the sensitivity of the Large Hadron Collider experiments, both in run-1 and early run-2, to differences in the kinematical distributions from the different production mechanisms. We have found that even though there can be significant differences in some kinematical distributions at the parton level, the differences are washed out at the reconstruction level. Thus, the published experimental results can be reinterpreted in models with heavy gluons by simply rescaling the production cross section.