New vector resonances, such as heavy W' and Z' gauge bosons, may be one of the cleanest and most important signals of new physics that can be discovered in the early data from the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Such new heavy gauge bosons arise in numerous gauge extensions of the Standard Model (SM) of particle interactions. Their discovery would help to elucidate the nature of the spontaneous symmetry breaking at the weak scale. In this thesis, we focus on extended gauge models with these novel electroweak gauge bosons in the framework of an effective theory. Based on breaking patterns and fermion assignments, we classify a number of models with SU(2) x SU(2) x U(1) gauge symmetry (the so-called G(221) models) and write down the general Lagrangian and Feynman rules in a linearized effective field theory. The current constraints on G(221) models are studied in detail. This is done by combining the indirect constraints from the precision electroweak tests (EWPT) at the Large Electron Positron (LEP) collider with other low energy observables. Moreover, direct search constraints from the Fermilab TeVatron and the LHC are also included. Our results indicate that, although the light W' and Z' bosons are allowed by EWPTs, direct constraints require the masses of the W' and Z' bosons in G(221) models to be at the TeV scales. In this thesis, we also consider the prospect for discovering these bosons in the coming data from the LHC. We focus on searches for heavy resonances in final states with a lepton plus large amounts of missing energy. Having a lepton and large missing energy in the final state ensures the experimental collaborations can readily identify these potential signatures of new physics. We explore the potential for discovering the heavy charged gauge bosons in the G(221) models in the coming data, as well as the ability to place limits on their masses and couplings. It is shown that in some models it is more efficient to use the $W^\prime$ leptonic decay channel for discovery or exclusion than the Z' leptonic decay channel. Also, we note, for various G(221) phobic models, observing a Z' alone cannot rule out the possibility of a non-abelian gauge extension of new physics. To help unravel the nature of the new gauge bosons, it is necessary to study the properties of the charge gauge bosons in the top quark channels. We show that it is possible to probe the chiral structure of the charged gauge bosons using top quark polarization with the upcoming data from the LHC. Furthermore, a flavor-violating $W^\prime$ model might explain the anomalously large forward-backward asymmetry of the top pairs. An anomalously large forward-backward asymmetry was observed at both the CDF and D0 experiments at the TeVatron. Finally, we explore the searches for a top-philic W' in the top quark pair plus a hard b-jet final states at the LHC. This provides a sensitive test for exotically charged gauged bosons.
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