Measurements of light-by-light scattering (LbL, $\gamma\gamma\to\gamma\gamma$) and the Breit--Wheeler process (BW, $\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\mathrm{e^+e^-}$) are reported in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb$^{-1}$, was collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2018. Events with an exclusively produced $\gamma\gamma$ or $\mathrm{e^+e^-}$ pair with invariant masses $m^{\gamma\gamma,\mathrm{ee}}$$>$ 5 GeV, along with other fiducial criteria, are selected. The measured BW fiducial production cross section, $\sigma_\text{fid}$($\gamma\gamma$$\to$$\mathrm{e^+e^-}$) = 263.5 $\pm$ 1.8 (stat) $\pm$ 17.8 (syst) $\mu$b, as well as the differential distributions for various kinematic observables, are in agreement with leading-order quantum electrodynamics predictions complemented with final-state photon radiation. The measured differential BW cross sections allow discriminating between different theoretical descriptions of the photon flux of the lead ion. In the LbL final state, 26 exclusive diphoton candidate events are observed compared with 12.0 $\pm$ 2.9 expected for the background. Combined with previous results, the observed significance of the LbL signal with respect to the background-only hypothesis is above five standard deviations. The measured fiducial LbL scattering cross section, $\sigma_\text{fid} (\gamma\gamma\to\gamma\gamma)$ = 107 $\pm$ 24 (stat) $\pm$ 13 (syst) nb, is in agreement with next-to-leading-order predictions. Limits on the production of axion-like particles coupled to photons are set over the mass range 5-100 GeV, including the most stringent limits to date in the range of 5-10 GeV.
Probability for different neutron multiplicity classes (0n, 1n, and Xn with X $\ge$1) measured on each ZDC side for the exclusive $e^{+}e^{-}$ events passing the fiducial phase space of Table 1. The measured ratios are compared with SUPERCHIC 4.2, STARLIGHT 3.13, and gamma-UPC 1.6 predictions.
Differential cross sections for exclusive dielectron production, in the fiducial phase space of Table 1, as functions of the pair $p_T$. Data are compared with SUPERCHIC + FSR(PHOTOS++), STARLIGHT + FSR(PY8), and gamma-UPC + FSR(PY8) predictions.
Differential cross sections for exclusive dielectron production, in the fiducial phase space of Table 1, as functions of the pair rapidity. Data are compared with SUPERCHIC + FSR(PHOTOS++), STARLIGHT + FSR(PY8), and gamma-UPC + FSR(PY8) predictions.
A search has been performed for heavy resonances decaying to ZZ or ZW and for axion-like particles (ALPs) mediating nonresonant ZZ or ZH production, in final states with two charged leptons ($\ell$ = e, $\mu$) produced by the decay of a Z boson, and two quarks produced by the decay of a Z, W, or Higgs boson H. The analysis is sensitive to resonances with masses in the range 450 to 2000 GeV. Two categories are defined corresponding to the merged or resolved reconstruction of the hadronically decaying boson. The search is based on data collected during 2016-2018 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess is observed in the data above the standard model background expectation. Upper limits on the production cross section of heavy, narrow spin-2 and spin-1 resonances are derived as functions of the resonance mass, and exclusion limits on the production of bulk graviton particles and W$'$ bosons are calculated in the framework of the warped extra dimensions and heavy vector triplet models, respectively. In addition, upper limits on the ALP-mediated diboson production cross section and ALP couplings to standard model particles are obtained in the framework of linear and chiral effective field theories. These are the first limits on nonresonant ALP-mediated ZZ and ZH production obtained by the LHC experiments.
SR1 diboson invariant mass distribution in the boosted untagged category after fitting the signal and sideband regions using a signal (ALP linear ZZ) plus background model. The last bin includes events with diboson invariant masses up to 3000 GeV. The signal is normalized to the 95% CL cross section limit at $f_a$ = 3 TeV (the scale factor used in the original figure for better visibility is not applied here).
SR1 diboson invariant mass distribution in the boosted tagged category after fitting the signal and sideband regions using a signal (ALP linear ZZ) plus background model. The last bin includes events with diboson invariant masses up to 3000 GeV. The signal is normalized to the 95% CL cross section limit at $f_a$ = 3 TeV.
SR1 diboson invariant mass distribution in the resolved untagged category after fitting the signal and sideband regions using a signal (ALP linear ZZ) plus background model. The last bin includes events with diboson invariant masses up to 3000 GeV. The signal is normalized to the 95% CL cross section limit at $f_a$ = 3 TeV (the scale factor used in the original figure for better visibility is not applied here).
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