This Letter reports the first measurement of photonuclear D$^0$ meson production in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions. The study is performed using lead-lead collision data, with an integrated luminosity of 1.38 nb$^{-1}$, collected by the CMS experiment at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.36 TeV. Photonuclear events, where one of the colliding nuclei breaks up and the other remains intact, are selected based on breakup neutron emissions and by requiring no particle activity in a large rapidity interval in the direction of the photon-emitting nucleus. The D$^0$ mesons are reconstructed via the D$^0$$\to$ K$^-$$π^+$ decay channel, with the cross section measured as a function of D$^0$ meson transverse momentum and rapidity. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations that employ recent parametrizations of the lead nuclear parton distribution functions, as well as with predictions based on the color glass condensate framework. This measurement is the first photonuclear collision study characterizing parton distribution functions of lead nuclei for parton fractional momenta $x$ (relative to the nucleon) ranging approximately from a few 10$^{-4}$ to 10$^{-2}$ for different hard energy scale $Q^2$ selections.
This paper presents a measurement of fiducial and differential cross-sections for $W^{+}W^{-}$ production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. Events with exactly one electron, one muon and no hadronic jets are studied. The fiducial region in which the measurements are performed is inspired by searches for the electroweak production of supersymmetric charginos decaying to two-lepton final states. The selected events have moderate values of missing transverse momentum and the `stransverse mass' variable $m_{\textrm{T2}}$, which is widely used in searches for supersymmetry at the LHC. The ranges of these variables are chosen so that the acceptance is enhanced for direct $W^{+}W^{-}$ production and suppressed for production via top quarks, which is treated as a background. The fiducial cross-section and particle-level differential cross-sections for six variables are measured and compared with two theoretical SM predictions from perturbative QCD calculations.
A search for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), the right-handed Dirac or Majorana neutrinos, is performed in final states with three charged leptons (electrons or muons) using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV at the CERN LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The HNLs could be produced through mixing with standard model neutrinos $\nu$. For small values of the HNL mass ($\lt$ 20 GeV) and the square of the HNL-$\nu$ mixing parameter (10$^{-7}$-10$^{-2}$), the decay length of these particles can be large enough so that the secondary vertex of the HNL decay can be resolved with the CMS silicon tracker. The selected final state consists of one lepton emerging from the primary proton-proton collision vertex, and two leptons forming a displaced, secondary vertex. No significant deviations from the standard model expectations are observed, and constraints are obtained on the HNL mass and coupling strength parameters, excluding previously unexplored regions of parameter space in the mass range 1-20 GeV and squared mixing parameter values as low as 10$^{-7}$.
The first search for singly produced narrow resonances decaying to three well-separated hadronic jets is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected at the CERN LHC. No significant deviations from the background predictions are observed between 1.75-9.00 TeV. The results provide the first mass limits on a right-handed boson Z$_{\mathrm{R}}$ decaying to three gluons and on an excited quark decaying via a vector boson to three quarks, as well as updated limits on a Kaluza-Klein gluon decaying via a radion to three gluons.
The observation of WW$\gamma$ production in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ is presented. The observed (expected) significance is 5.6 (5.1) standard deviations. Events are selected by requiring exactly two leptons (one electron and one muon) of opposite charge, moderate missing transverse momentum, and a photon. The measured fiducial cross section for WW$\gamma$ is 5.9 $\pm$ 0.8 (stat) $\pm$ 0.8 (syst) $\pm$ 0.7 (modeling) fb, in agreement with the next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics prediction. The analysis is extended with a search for the associated production of the Higgs boson and a photon, which is generated by a coupling of the Higgs boson to light quarks. The result is used to constrain the Higgs boson couplings to light quarks.
A search for supersymmetry is presented in events with a single charged lepton, electron or muon, and multiple hadronic jets. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The search targets gluino pair production, where the gluinos decay into final states with the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and either a top quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) pair, or a light-flavor quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$) pair and a virtual or on-shell W boson. The main backgrounds, $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ pair and W+jets production, are suppressed by requirements on the azimuthal angle between the momenta of the lepton and of its reconstructed parent W boson candidate, and by top quark and W boson identification based on a machine-learning technique. The number of observed events is consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Limits are evaluated on supersymmetric particle masses in the context of two simplified models of gluino pair production. Exclusions for gluino masses reach up to 2120 (2050) GeV at 95% confidence level for a model with gluino decay to a $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ pair (a $\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ pair and a W boson) and the LSP. For the same models, limits on the mass of the LSP reach up to 1250 (1070) GeV.
A search for light long-lived particles decaying to displaced jets is presented, using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34.7 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2022. Novel trigger, reconstruction, and machine-learning techniques were developed for and employed in this search. After all selections, the observations are consistent with the background predictions. Limits are presented on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to long-lived particles that subsequently decay to quark pairs or tau lepton pairs. An improvement by up to a factor of 10 is achieved over previous limits for models with long-lived particle masses smaller than 60 GeV and proper decay lengths smaller than 1 m. The first constraints are placed on the fraternal twin Higgs and folded supersymmetry models, where the lower bounds on the top quark partner mass reach up to 350 GeV for the fraternal twin Higgs model and 250 GeV for the folded supersymmetry model.
Energy-energy correlators are constructed by averaging the number of charged particle pairs within jets, weighted by the product of their transverse momenta, as a function of the angular separation of the particles within a pair. They are sensitive to a multitude of perturbative and nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics phenomena in high-energy particle collisions. Using lead-lead data recorded with the CMS detector, energy-energy correlators inside high transverse momentum jets are measured in heavy ion collisions for the first time. The data are obtained at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.70 nb$^{-1}$. A similar analysis is done for proton-proton collisions at the same center-of-mass energy to establish a reference. The ratio of lead-lead to proton-proton energy-energy correlators reveals significant jet substructure modifications in the quark-gluon plasma. The results are compared to different models that incorporate either color coherence or medium response effects, where the two effects predict similar substructure modifications.
This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a $Z$ boson in association with $b$- or $c$-jets, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a $Z$ boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one $b$-jet, at least one $c$-jet, or at least two $b$-jets with transverse momentum $p_\textrm{T} > 20$ GeV and rapidity $|y| < 2.5$. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation, with different choices of flavour schemes for initial-state partons, are compared with the measured cross-sections. The results are also compared with novel predictions, based on infrared and collinear safe jet flavour dressing algorithms. Selected $Z + \ge 1 c$-jet observables, optimized for sensitivity to intrinsic-charm, are compared with benchmark models with different intrinsic-charm fractions.
Measurements of inclusive, differential cross-sections for the production of events with missing transverse momentum in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13~$TeV are presented. The measurements are made with the ATLAS detector using an integrated luminosity of $140~$fb$^{-1}$ and include measurements of dijet distributions in a region in which vector-boson fusion processes are enhanced. They are unfolded to correct for detector resolution and efficiency within the fiducial acceptance, and are designed to allow robust comparisons with a wide range of theoretical predictions. A measurement of differential cross sections for the $Z~\to \nu\nu$ process is made. The measurements are generally well-described by Standard Model predictions except for the dijet invariant mass distribution. Auxiliary measurements of the hadronic system recoiling against isolated leptons, and photons, are also made in the same phase space. Ratios between the measured distributions are then derived, to take advantage of cancellations in modelling effects and some of the major systematic uncertainties. These measurements are sensitive to new phenomena, and provide a mechanism to easily set constraints on phenomenological models. To illustrate the robustness of the approach, these ratios are compared with two common Dark Matter models, where the constraints derived from the measurement are comparable to those set by dedicated detector-level searches.
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