Spin discrimination of new heavy resonances at the LHC

If a new resonance is discovered at the LHC, the problem of discriminating between two spin hypotheses is in the category of simple hypothesis testing if the angular distributions of the decay products are fully specified by the models. We discuss the interpretation of the likelihood ratio statistic for discriminating between a Z' boson ( spin 1) and a graviton ( spin 2), contrasting this interpretation with previously published work. Inclusion of the possibility of a spin-0 resonance makes the unambiguous identification of either spin-1 or spin-2 resonances more difficult.