The first collider search for dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector is presented and uses a data sample corresponding to 138 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The hidden sector is hypothesized to couple to the standard model (SM) via a heavy leptophobic Z' mediator produced as a resonance in proton-proton collisions. The mediator decay results in two "semivisible" jets, containing both visible matter and invisible dark matter. The final state therefore includes moderate missing energy aligned with one of the jets, a signature ignored by most dark matter searches. No structure in the dijet transverse mass spectra compatible with the signal is observed. Assuming the Z' has a universal coupling of 0.25 to the SM quarks, an inclusive search, relevant to any model that exhibits this kinematic behavior, excludes mediator masses of 1.5-4.0 TeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the other signal model parameters. To enhance the sensitivity of the search for this particular class of hidden sector models, a boosted decision tree (BDT) is trained using jet substructure variables to distinguish between semivisible jets and SM jets from background processes. When the BDT is employed to identify each jet in the dijet system as semivisible, the mediator mass exclusion increases to 5.1 TeV, for wider ranges of the other signal model parameters. These limits exclude a wide range of strongly coupled hidden sector models for the first time.

A search is reported for pairs of light Higgs bosons (H$_1$) produced in supersymmetric cascade decays in final states with small missing transverse momentum. A data set of LHC pp collisions collected with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ is used. The search targets events where both H$_1$ bosons decay into $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ pairs that are reconstructed as large-radius jets using substructure techniques. No evidence is found for an excess of events beyond the background expectations of the standard model (SM). Results from the search are interpreted in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM, where a "singlino" of small mass leads to squark and gluino cascade decays that can predominantly end in a highly Lorentz-boosted singlet-like H$_1$ and a singlino-like neutralino of small transverse momentum. Upper limits are set on the product of the squark or gluino pair production cross section and the square of the $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ branching fraction of the H$_1$ in a benchmark model containing almost mass-degenerate gluinos and light-flavour squarks. Under the assumption of an SM-like H$_1$$\to$$\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ branching fraction, H$_1$ bosons with masses in the range 40-120 GeV arising from the decays of squarks or gluinos with a mass of 1200 to 2500 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

A measurement of the W$^+$W$^-$ boson pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV is presented. The data used in this study are collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The W$^+$W$^-$ candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons). Two methods for reducing background contributions are employed. In the first one, a sequence of requirements on kinematic quantities is applied allowing a measurement of the total production cross section: 117.6 $\pm$ 6.8 pb, which agrees well with the theoretical prediction. Fiducial cross sections are also reported for events with zero or one jet, and the change in the zero-jet fiducial cross section with the jet transverse momentum threshold is measured. Normalized differential cross sections are reported within the fiducial region. A second method for suppressing background contributions employs two random forest classifiers. The analysis based on this method includes a measurement of the total production cross section and also a measurement of the normalized jet multiplicity distribution in W$^+$W$^-$ events. Finally, a dilepton invariant mass distribution is used to probe for physics beyond the standard model in the context of an effective field theory, and constraints on the presence of dimension-6 operators are derived.

A search is presented for vector-like T and B quark-antiquark pairs produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Data were collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018, with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events are separated into single-lepton, same-sign charge dilepton, and multilepton channels. In the analysis of the single-lepton channel a multilayer neural network and jet identification techniques are employed to select signal events, while the same-sign dilepton and multilepton channels rely on the high-energy signature of the signal to distinguish it from standard model backgrounds. The data are consistent with standard model background predictions, and the production of vector-like quark pairs is excluded at 95% confidence level for T quark masses up to 1.54 TeV and B quark masses up to 1.56 TeV, depending on the branching fractions assumed, with maximal sensitivity to decay modes that include multiple top quarks. The limits obtained in this search are the strongest limits to date for $\mathrm{T\overline{T}}$ production, excluding masses below 1.48 TeV for all decays to third generation quarks, and are the strongest limits to date for $\mathrm{B\overline{B}}$ production with B quark decays to tW.

Two-particle azimuthal correlations are measured with the ALICE apparatus in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV to explore strangeness- and multiplicity-related effects in the fragmentation of jets and the transition regime between bulk and hard production, probed with the condition that a strange meson (K$^{0}_{\rm S}$) or baryon ($\Lambda$) with transverse momentum $p_{\rm T} > 3$ GeV/c is produced. Azimuthal correlations between kaons or $\Lambda$ hyperons with other hadrons are presented at midrapidity for a broad range of the trigger ($3 < p_{\rm T}^{\rm trigg} < 20$ GeV/$c$) and associated particle $p_{\rm T}$ (1 GeV/$c$$< p_{\rm T}^{\rm assoc} < p_{\rm T}^{\rm trigg}$), for minimum-bias events and as a function of the event multiplicity. The near- and away-side peak yields are compared for the case of either K$^{0}_{\rm S}$ or $\Lambda$($\overline{\Lambda}$) being the trigger particle with that of inclusive hadrons (a sample dominated by pions). In addition, the measurements are compared with predictions from PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC event generators.

A precision measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the forward region is presented, using $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 fb$^{-1}$. The production cross-section is measured using $Z\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ events within the fiducial region defined as pseudorapidity $2.0<\eta<4.5$ and transverse momentum $p_{T}>20$ GeV/$c$ for both muons and dimuon invariant mass $60<M_{\mu\mu}<120$ GeV/$c^2$. The integrated cross-section is determined to be $\sigma (Z \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)$ = 196.4 $\pm$ 0.2 $\pm$ 1.6 $\pm$ 3.9~pb, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the luminosity determination. The measured results are in agreement with theoretical predictions within uncertainties.

The production of $\phi$ mesons has been studied in pp collisions at LHC energies with the ALICE detector via the dimuon decay channel in the rapidity region $2.5 < y < 4$. Measurements of the differential cross section ${\rm d}^2\sigma/{\rm d}y {\rm d}p_{\rm T}$ are presented as a function of the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) at the center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}=5.02$, 8 and 13 TeV and compared with the ALICE results at midrapidity. The differential cross sections at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ and 13 TeV are also studied in several rapidity intervals as a function of $p_{\rm T}$, and as a function of rapidity in three $p_{\rm T}$ intervals. A hardening of the $p_{\rm T}$-differential cross section with the collision energy is observed, while, for a given energy, $p_{\rm T}$ spectra soften with increasing rapidity and, conversely, rapidity distributions get slightly narrower at increasing $p_{\rm T}$. The new results, complementing the published measurements at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ and 7 TeV, allow one to establish the energy dependence of $\phi$ meson production and to compare the measured cross sections with phenomenological models. None of the considered models manages to describe the evolution of the cross section with $p_{\rm T}$ and rapidity at all the energies.

Higgsinos with masses near the electroweak scale can solve the hierarchy problem and provide a dark matter candidate, while detecting them at the LHC remains challenging if their mass-splitting is $\mathcal{O}$(1 GeV). This Letter presents a novel search for nearly mass-degenerate higgsinos in events with an energetic jet, missing transverse momentum, and a low-momentum track with a significant transverse impact parameter using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment. For the first time since LEP, a range of mass-splittings between the lightest charged and neutral higgsinos from 0.3 GeV to 0.9 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, with a maximum reach of approximately 170 GeV in the higgsino mass.

Measurements of both the inclusive and differential production cross sections of a top-quark-top-antiquark pair in association with a $Z$ boson ($t\bar{t}Z$) are presented. Final states with two, three or four isolated leptons (electrons or muons) are targeted. The measurements use the data recorded by the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider during the years 2015-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $140$ fb$^{-1}$. The inclusive cross section is measured to be $\sigma_{t\bar{t}Z}= 0.86 \pm 0.04~\mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.04~\mathrm{(syst.)}~$pb and found to be in agreement with the most advanced Standard Model predictions. The differential measurements are presented as a function of a number of observables that probe the kinematics of the $t\bar{t}Z$ system. Both the absolute and normalised differential cross-section measurements are performed at particle level and parton level for specific fiducial volumes, and are compared with NLO+NNLL theoretical predictions. The results are interpreted in the framework of Standard Model effective field theory and used to set limits on a large number of dimension-6 operators involving the top quark. The first measurement of spin correlations in $t\bar{t}Z$ events is presented: the results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations, and the null hypothesis of no spin correlations is disfavoured with a significance of $1.8$ standard deviations.

The inclusive top-quark-pair production cross section $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and its ratio to the $Z$-boson production cross section have been measured in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13.6$ TeV, using 29 fb${}^{-1}$ of data collected in 2022 with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Using events with an opposite-charge electron-muon pair and $b$-tagged jets, and assuming Standard Model decays, the top-quark-pair production cross section is measured to be $\sigma_{t\bar{t}} = 850 \pm 3\mathrm{(stat.)}\pm 18\mathrm{(syst.)}\pm 20\mathrm{(lumi.)}$ pb. The ratio of the $t\bar{t}$ and the $Z$-boson production cross sections is also measured, where the $Z$-boson contribution is determined for inclusive $e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ events in a fiducial phase space. The relative uncertainty on the ratio is reduced compared to the $t\bar{t}$ cross section, thanks to the cancellation of several systematic uncertainties. The result for the ratio, $R_{t\bar{t}/Z} = 1.145 \pm 0.003\mathrm{(stat.)}\pm 0.021\mathrm{(syst.)}\pm 0.002\mathrm{(lumi.)}$ is consistent with the Standard Model prediction using the PDF4LHC21 PDF set.