Pastika, Nathaniel Joseph2014-10-312014-10-312014-08https://hdl.handle.net/11299/167424University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2014. Major: Physics. Advisor: Jeremiah Mans. 1 computer file (PDF); viii, 142 pages, appendix A.The search for direct production of a heavy right-handed W_R boson, which decays to a right-handed neutrino N_l(l=e,&mu;), with a final state containing two same-flavor leptons and two jets, consistent with a left-right symmetric extension to the standard model, is presented. The search was conducted using the full 19.7 fb<super>-1</super> of proton-proton collision data collected at a center of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 8 TeV by the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant deviation from the standard model is observed in either channel. 95% confidence level exclusion limits in the plane of W_R mass versus right-handed neutrino mass are set for the electron and muon channel that extends up to 3 TeV in W_R mass and exclude most neutrino masses below the mass of the W_R. The electron and muon channel data are also combined assuming degenerate right-handed neutrino masses. A brief discussion of the efforts to upgrade the readout electronics of the hadronic calorimeter of the Compact Muon Solenoid detector is also presented.enHeavy neutrinoLeft-right symmetricRight-handed neutrinoRight-handed WPhysicsThesis or Dissertation