Finding Z′ bosons coupled preferentially to the third family at CERN LEP and the Fermilab Tevatron -: art. no. 035006

Z' bosons that couple preferentially to the third generation fermions can arise in models with extended weak [SU(2)xSU(2)] or hypercharge [U(1)xU(1)] gauge groups. We show that existing limits on quark-lepton compositeness set by the CERN LEP and Fermilab Tevatron experiments: translate into lower bounds of the order of a few hundred GeV on the masses of these Z' bosons. Resonances of this mass can be directly produced at the Tevatron. Accordingly, we explore in detail the limits that can be set at Run II using the process p (p) over bar-->Z'-->tau tau-->e mu. We also comment on the possibility of using hadronically decaying taus to improve the limits.