A search is reported for massive resonances decaying into a quark and a vector boson (W or Z), or two vector bosons (WW, WZ, or ZZ). The analysis is performed on an inclusive sample of multijet events corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, collected in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The search uses novel jet-substructure identification techniques that provide sensitivity to the presence of highly boosted vector bosons decaying into a pair of quarks. Exclusion limits are set at a confidence level of 95% on the production of: (i) excited quark resonances q* decaying to qW and qZ for masses less than 3.2 TeV and 2.9 TeV, respectively, (ii) a Randall-Sundrum graviton G[RS] decaying into WW for masses below 1.2 TeV, and (iii) a heavy partner of the W boson W' decaying into WZ for masses less than 1.7 TeV. For the first time mass limits are set on W' to WZ and G[RS] to WW in the all-jets final state. The mass limits on q* to qW, q* to qZ, W' to WZ, G[RS] to WW are the most stringent to date. A model with a "bulk" graviton G[Bulk] that decays into WW or ZZ bosons is also studied.
Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp to (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) to l+l-l'+l'-, where l, l' = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 14.6 +1.9/-1.8 (stat) +0.5/-0.3 (syst) +/- 0.2 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, is measured for events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 < m[l+l-], m[l'+l'-] < 120 GeV. The Z boson branching fraction to four leptons is measured to be B(Z to l+l-l'+l'-) = 4.9 +0.8/-0.7 (stat) +0.3/-0.2 (syst) +0.2/-0.1 (theo) +/- 0.1 (lumi) x E-6 for the four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 < m[l+l-l'+l'-] < 100 GeV and dilepton mass m[l+l-] > 4 GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results are in agreement with standard model predictions.
A comparison of the differential cross sections for the processes Z/gamma* + jets and photon (gamma) + jets is presented. The measurements are based on data collected with the CMS detector at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The differential cross sections and their ratios are presented as functions of pt. The measurements are also shown as functions of the jet multiplicity. Differential cross sections are obtained as functions of the ratio of the Z/gamma* pt to the sum of all jet transverse momenta and of the ratio of the Z/gamma* pt to the leading jet transverse momentum. The data are corrected for detector effects and are compared to simulations based on several QCD calculations.
A measurement of inclusive ZZ production cross section and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are presented. A data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns was collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are performed in the leptonic decay modes ZZ to lll'l', where l = e, mu and l' = e, mu, tau. The measured total cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 7.7 +/- 0.5 (stat.) +0.5-0.4 (syst.) +/- 0.4 (theo.) +/- 0.2 (lum.) pb for both Z bosons produced in the mass range 60 < m[Z] < 120 GeV, is consistent with standard model predictions. Differential cross sections are measured and well described by the theoretical predictions. The invariant mass distribution of the four-lepton system is used to set limits on anomalous ZZZ and ZZ gamma couplings at the 95% confidence level: -0.004 < f[4,Z] < 0.004, -0.004 < f[5,Z] < 0.004, -0.005 < f[4,gamma] < 0.005, and -0.005 < f[5,gamma] < 0.005.
A search is presented for decays beyond the standard model of the 125 GeV Higgs bosons to a pair of light bosons, based on models with extended scalar sectors. Light boson masses between 5 and 62.5 GeV are probed in final states containing four tau leptons, two muons and two b quarks, or two muons and two tau leptons. The results are from data in proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, accumulated by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. No evidence for such exotic decays is found in the data. Upper limits are set on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for several signal processes. The results are also compared to predictions of two-Higgs-doublet models, including those with an additional scalar singlet.
A systematic study of the factorization of long-range azimuthal two-particle correlations into a product of single-particle anisotropies is presented as a function of pt and eta of both particles, and as a function of the particle multiplicity in PbPb and pPb collisions. The data were taken with the CMS detector for PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV and pPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV, covering a very wide range of multiplicity. Factorization is observed to be broken as a function of both particle pt and eta. When measured with particles of different pt, the magnitude of the factorization breakdown for the second Fourier harmonic reaches 20% for very central PbPb collisions but decreases rapidly as the multiplicity decreases. The data are consistent with viscous hydrodynamic predictions, which suggest that the effect of factorization breaking is mainly sensitive to the initial-state conditions rather than to the transport properties (e.g., shear viscosity) of the medium. The factorization breakdown is also computed with particles of different eta. The effect is found to be weakest for mid-central PbPb events but becomes larger for more central or peripheral PbPb collisions, and also for very high-multiplicity pPb collisions. The eta-dependent factorization data provide new insights to the longitudinal evolution of the medium formed in heavy ion collisions.
A measurement of the double-differential inclusive jet cross section as a function of the jet transverse momentum pT and the absolute jet rapidity abs(y) is presented. Data from LHC proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, have been collected with the CMS detector. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-kT clustering algorithm with a size parameter of 0.7 in a phase space region covering jet pT from 74 GeV up to 2.5 TeV and jet absolute rapidity up to abs(y) = 3.0. The low-pT jet range between 21 and 74 GeV is also studied up to abs(y) = 4.7, using a dedicated data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.6 inverse picobarns. The measured jet cross section is corrected for detector effects and compared with the predictions from perturbative QCD at next-to-leading order (NLO) using various sets of parton distribution functions (PDF). Cross section ratios to the corresponding measurements performed at 2.76 and 7 TeV are presented. From the measured double-differential jet cross section, the value of the strong coupling constant evaluated at the Z mass is alpha[S(M[Z]) = 0.1164 +0.0060 -0.0043, where the errors include the PDF, scale, nonperturbative effects and experimental uncertainties, using the CT10 NLO PDFs. Improved constraints on PDFs based on the inclusive jet cross section measurement are presented.
Results are reported from a search for supersymmetric particles in proton-proton collisions in the final state with a single, high transverse momentum lepton; multiple jets, including at least one b-tagged jet; and large missing transverse momentum. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The search focuses on processes leading to high jet multiplicities, such as gluino pair production with gluinos to t t-bar neutralino[1]. The quantity M[J], defined as the sum of the masses of the large-radius jets in the event, is used in conjunction with other kinematic variables to provide discrimination between signal and background and as a key part of the background estimation method. The observed event yields in the signal regions in data are consistent with those expected for standard model backgrounds, estimated from control regions in data. Exclusion limits are obtained for a simplified model corresponding to gluino pair production with three-body decays into top quarks and neutralinos. Gluinos with a mass below 1600 GeV are excluded at a 95% confidence level for scenarios with low neutralino[1] mass, and neutralinos with a mass below 800 GeV are excluded for a gluino mass of about 1300 GeV. For models with two-body gluino decays producing on-shell top squarks, the excluded region is only weakly sensitive to the top squark mass.
A study of the associated production of a Z boson and a charm quark jet (Z + c), and a comparison to production with a b quark jet (Z + b), in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are presented. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The Z boson candidates are identified through their decays into pairs of electrons or muons. Jets originating from heavy flavour quarks are identified using semileptonic decays of c or b flavoured hadrons and hadronic decays of charm hadrons. The measurements are performed in the kinematic region with two leptons with $p_{\rm T}^{\ell} > $ 20 GeV, ${|\eta^{\ell}|} < $ 2.1, 71 $ < m_{\ell\ell} < $ 111 GeV, and heavy flavour jets with $p_{\rm T}^{{\rm jet}} > $ 25 GeV and ${|\eta^{{\rm jet}}|} < $ 2.5. The Z + c production cross section is measured to be $\sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{c} + \mathrm{X}) {\cal B}(\mathrm{Z} \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-) = $ 8.8 $ \pm $ 0.5 (stat) $ \pm $ 0.6 (syst) pb. The ratio of the Z + c and Z + b production cross sections is measured to be $\sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{c} + \mathrm{X}) / \sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{b} + \mathrm{X}) = $ 2.0 $ \pm $ 0.2 (stat) $ \pm $ 0.2 (syst). The Z + c production cross section and the cross section ratio are also measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the Z boson and of the heavy flavour jet. The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions.
A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three leptons is presented. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions with center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2012. The data are divided into exclusive categories based on the number of leptons and their flavor, the presence or absence of an opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pair (OSSF), the invariant mass of the OSSF pair, the presence or absence of a tagged bottom-quark jet, the number of identified hadronically decaying tau leptons, and the magnitude of the missing transverse energy and of the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta. The numbers of observed events are found to be consistent with the expected numbers from standard model processes, and limits are placed on new-physics scenarios that yield multilepton final states. In particular, scenarios that predict Higgs boson production in the context of supersymmetric decay chains are examined. We also place a 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.3% on the branching fraction for the decay of a top quark to a charm quark and a Higgs boson (t to c H), which translates to a bound on the left- and right-handed top-charm flavor-violating Higgs Yukawa couplings, lambda[H, tc] and lambda[H, ct], respectively, of sqrt(abs(lambda[H, tc])^2 + abs(lambda[H, ct])^2) < 0.21.