V'Z AND V'W PRODUCTION AS TESTS OF HEAVY GAUGE BOSON COUPLINGS AT FUTURE HADRON COLLIDERS

We point out that the production cross section of pp --> V'V, with V' = W', Z, and V = W, Z, is a useful diagnostic of V' gauge couplings at future hadron colliders. For M(Z') congruent-to 1 TeV it would allow determination of combinations of Z' gauge couplings to the quarks to around 10%. An analysis of the extraction of gauge couplings from the complementary tests-forward-backward asymmetry, rare decays pp --> V' --> f1f2BAR V, and the production cross section pp --> V'V- is given in a model-independent framework. Four ratios of charges are needed to characterize a general gauge theory with an additional family-independent U'(1) factor. We show that there are four functions of these ratios observable at hadron colliders, but for projected Superconducting Super Collider and Large Hadron Collider luminosities only two combinations can be extracted. These yield a significant discrimination between interesting grand-unified-theory-motivated models. Clean tests of whether a new W' couples to right-handed currents, of the ratio g(R)/g(L) of gauge couplings, and of the non-Abelian vertex in left-right-symmetric models are described.