Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, detailed studies of its properties have been ongoing. Besides its mass, its width - related to its lifetime - is an important parameter. One way to determine this quantity is by measuring its off-shell production, where the Higgs boson mass is far away from its nominal value, and relating it to its on-shell production, where the mass is close to the nominal value. Here, we report evidence for such off-shell contributions to the production cross section of two Z bosons with data from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We constrain the total rate of the off-shell Higgs boson contribution beyond the Z boson pair production threshold, relative to its standard model expectation, to the interval [0.0061, 2.0] at 95% confidence level. The scenario with no off-shell contribution is excluded at a $p$-value of 0.0003 (3.6 standard deviations). We measure the width of the Higgs boson as $\Gamma_{\mathrm{H}}$ = 3.2 $_{-1.7}^{+2.4}$ MeV, in agreement with the standard model expectation of 4.1 MeV. In addition, we set constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings to W and Z boson pairs.
GGsm vs -2dNLL (SM-like (f_{ai}=0) observed)
GGsm vs -2dNLL (f_{a2} (u) observed)
GGsm vs -2dNLL (f_{a3} (u) observed)
A search for resonances decaying into a W boson and a radion, where the radion decays into two W bosons, is presented. The data analyzed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ recorded in proton-proton collisions with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. One isolated charged lepton is required, together with missing transverse momentum and one or two massive large-radius jets, containing the decay products of either two or one W bosons, respectively. No excess over the background estimation is observed. The results are combined with those from a complementary channel with an all-hadronic final state, described in an accompanying paper. Limits are set on parameters of an extended warped extra-dimensional model. These searches are the first of their kind at the LHC.
Post-fit distributions of the reconstructed $\ell\nu$+jets system ($m_{\mathrm{j}\ell\nu}$, $m_{\mathrm{jj}\ell\nu}$) in data and simulation for SR4.
Observed upper limits at 95\% \CL on the signal cross section $\times$ branching fraction as functions of the $m_{\mathrm{W}_{\mathrm{KK}}}$ and $m_{\mathrm{R}}$ resonance masses after combinign with an analysis of the all-hadronic final state.
Expected median lower limit contour on the $m_{\mathrm{W}_{\mathrm{KK}}}$ and $m_{\mathrm{R}}$ plane after combinign with an analysis of the all-hadronic final state.
A new algorithm is presented to discriminate reconstructed hadronic decays of tau leptons ($\tau_\mathrm{h}$) that originate from genuine tau leptons in the CMS detector against $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ candidates that originate from quark or gluon jets, electrons, or muons. The algorithm inputs information from all reconstructed particles in the vicinity of a $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ candidate and employs a deep neural network with convolutional layers to efficiently process the inputs. This algorithm leads to a significantly improved performance compared with the previously used one. For example, the efficiency for a genuine $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ to pass the discriminator against jets increases by 10-30% for a given efficiency for quark and gluon jets. Furthermore, a more efficient $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ reconstruction is introduced that incorporates additional hadronic decay modes. The superior performance of the new algorithm to discriminate against jets, electrons, and muons and the improved $\tau_\mathrm{h}$ reconstruction method are validated with LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV.
Decay mode confusion matrix. For a given generated decay mode, the fractions of reconstructed tau_h in different decay modes are given, as well as the fraction of generated tau_h that are not reconstructed. Both the generated and reconstructed tau_h need to fulfil pt > 20 GeV and |eta| < 2.3. The tau_h candidates come from a Z to tau tau event sample with m(tau, tau) > 50 GeV.
Efficiency for quark and gluon jets to pass different tau identification discriminators versus the efficiency for genuine tau_h. The upper two plots are obtained with jets from the W+jets simulated sample and the lower two plots with jets from the tt sample. The left two plots include jets and genuine tau_h with pt < 100 GeV, whereas the right two plots include those with pt > 100 GeV. The working points are indicated as full circles. The efficiency for jets from the W+jets event sample, enriched in quark jets, to pass the discriminators is higher compared to jets from the tt event sample, which has a larger fraction of gluon and b-quark jets. The jet efficiency for a given tau_h efficiency is larger for jets and tau_h with pt < 100 GeV than for those with pt > 100 GeV. Compared with the previously used MVA discriminator, the DEEPTAU discriminator reduces the jet efficiency for a given tau_h efficiency by consistently more than a factor of 1.8, and by more at high tau_h efficiency. The additional gain at high pt comes from the inclusion of updated decay modes in the tau_h reconstruction, as illustrated by the curves for the previously used MVA discriminator but including reconstructed tau_h candidates with additional decay modes.
Efficiency for quark and gluon jets to pass different tau identification discriminators versus the efficiency for genuine tau_h. The upper two plots are obtained with jets from the W+jets simulated sample and the lower two plots with jets from the tt sample. The left two plots include jets and genuine tau_h with pt < 100 GeV, whereas the right two plots include those with pt > 100 GeV. The working points are indicated as full circles. The efficiency for jets from the W+jets event sample, enriched in quark jets, to pass the discriminators is higher compared to jets from the tt event sample, which has a larger fraction of gluon and b-quark jets. The jet efficiency for a given tau_h efficiency is larger for jets and tau_h with pt < 100 GeV than for those with pt > 100 GeV. Compared with the previously used MVA discriminator, the DEEPTAU discriminator reduces the jet efficiency for a given tau_h efficiency by consistently more than a factor of 1.8, and by more at high tau_h efficiency. The additional gain at high pt comes from the inclusion of updated decay modes in the tau_h reconstruction, as illustrated by the curves for the previously used MVA discriminator but including reconstructed tau_h candidates with additional decay modes.
Results are presented from a search for charged-lepton flavor violating (CLFV) interactions in top quark production and decay in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The events are required to contain one oppositely charged electron-muon pair in the final state, along with at least one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This analysis includes both the production (q $\to$ e$\mu$t) and decay (t $\to$ e$\mu$q) modes of the top quark through CLFV interactions, with q referring to a u or c quark. These interactions are parametrized using an effective field theory approach. With no significant excess over the standard model expectation, the results are interpreted in terms of vector-, scalar-, and tensor-like CLFV four-fermion effective interactions. Finally, observed exclusion limits are set at 95% confidence levels on the respective branching fractions of a top quark to an e$\mu$ pair and an up (charm) quark of 0.13 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ (1.31 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$), 0.07 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ (0.89 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$), and 0.25 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ (2.59 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$) for vector, scalar, and tensor CLFV interactions, respectively.
The expected and observed upper limits on the signal cross sections.
The expected and observed upper limits on CLFV Wilson coefficients. The Limits on the Wilson coefficients are extracted from the upper limits on the cross sections. Since the cross sections are quadratic functions of the Wilson coefficients, the limits lie on an ellipse given by the coordinate intersections.
The expected and observed upper limits on top quark CLFV branching fractions. The Limits on the top quark CLFV branching fractions are extracted from the upper limits on the Wilson coefficients.
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$^{-7}$.
Number of predicted and observed events in the $eeX$ final states. The quoted uncertainties include statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Number of predicted and observed events in the $\mu\mu X$ final states. The quoted uncertainties include statistical and systematic uncertainties.
Number of predicted signal events in the $eeX$ final states, for several benchmark signal hypotheses for Majorana HNL. The quoted uncertainties include statistical and systematic uncertainties.
The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is observed for the first time in heavy ion collisions. Data from the CMS detector are used to study the production of the $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV, via the $B_\mathrm{c}^+ \to (J/\psi\to\mu^+\mu^-)\mu^+\nu_\mu$ decay. The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ nuclear modification factor, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of production cross sections, is measured in two bins of the trimuon transverse momentum and of the PbPb collision centrality. The B$_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is shown to be less suppressed than quarkonia and most of the open heavy-flavor mesons, suggesting that effects of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions contribute to its production. This measurement sets forth a promising new probe of the interplay of suppression and enhancement mechanisms in the production of heavy-flavor mesons in the quark-gluon plasma.
The $B_c$ meson production (pp-equivalent) cross-section times branching fraction of the $B_c\rightarrow (J/\psi \rightarrow \mu\mu) \mu \nu_{\mu}$ decay in pp and PbPb collisions. The used kinematic variables correspond to those of the trimuon final state. The two $p_T$ bins correspond to different rapidity ranges. The total uncertainty is decomposed in an uncertainty from the fit and one representing all other sources. The markers of the $p_T^{\mu\mu\mu}$ bins are placed according to the Lafferty-Wyatt prescription.
The $B_c$ meson nuclear modification factor in PbPb collisions, in $p_T^{\mu\mu\mu}$ bins corresponding to different trimuon rapidity ranges. The total uncertainty is decomposed in a bin-to-bin-uncorrelated uncertainty and one fully correlated along the two bins. The markers of the $p_T^{\mu\mu\mu}$ bins are placed at the average of the Lafferty-Wyatt prescriptions applied to the pp and PbPb spectra.
The $B_c$ meson nuclear modification factor in PbPb collisions, in centrality bins, integrated over the studied kinematic range. The cut on the trimuon rapidity depends on the trimuon $p_T$. The total uncertainty is decomposed in a bin-to-bin-uncorrelated uncertainty and one fully correlated along the two bins. The centrality bin markers are placed at the minimum bias average number of participants $N_{part}$.
A search is reported for high-mass hadronic resonances that decay to a parton and a Lorentz-boosted resonance, which in turn decays into a pair of partons. The search is based on data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The boosted resonance is reconstructed as a single wide jet with substructure consistent with a two-body decay. The high-mass resonance is thus considered as a dijet system. The jet substructure information and the kinematic properties of cascade resonance decays are exploited to disentangle the signal from the large quantum chromodynamics multijet background. The dijet mass spectrum is analyzed for the presence of new high-mass resonances, and is found to be consistent with the standard model background predictions. Results are interpreted in a warped extra dimension model where the high-mass resonance is a Kaluza-Klein gluon, the boosted resonance is a radion, and the final state partons are all gluons. Limits on the production cross section are set as a function of the Kaluza-Klein gluon and radion masses. These limits exclude at 95% confidence level models with Kaluza-Klein gluon masses in the range from 2.0 to 4.3 TeV and radion masses in the range from 0.20 to 0.74 TeV. By exploring a novel experimental signature, the observed limits on the Kaluza-Klein gluon mass are extended by up to about 1 TeV compared to previous searches.
Observed upper limits on the product of signal cross section and branching fraction, as a function of the mass ratio $m(\mathrm{R}_{2}) / m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$ vs. $m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$, for a resonance model with three gluons in the final state. The excluded regions from this search (black hatched) are optimized for the decay of a Kaluza--Klein gluon ($\mathrm{G}_{\mathrm{KK}}$) to a gluon ($\mathrm{g}$) and a radion ($\phi$), which in turns decays to two gluons, leading to a final state with three gluons ($\mathrm{ggg}$). The couplings of the model are set to the values $g_{\mathrm{grav}} = 6.0$ and $g_{\mathrm{GKK}} = 3.0$. These excluded regions are compared with those obtained from a reinterpretation of the inclusive CMS dijet resonance search (JHEP 05 (2020) 033), which is more sensitive to the decay channel of $\mathrm{G}_{\mathrm{KK}}$ to a quark-antiquark pair (red hatched). The vertical band between the $m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$ values of $\sim$3.0 and $\sim$3.1 TeV, for $m(\mathrm{R}_{2}) / m(\mathrm{R}_{1}) \lesssim 0.19$, is not excluded by the dijet search because of an upward statistical fluctuation in the observed limit. The white, dashed lines represent a sample of curves corresponding to fixed $m(\mathrm{R}_{2})$ values.
Observed upper limits on the product of signal cross section and branching fraction, as a function of the mass ratio $m(\mathrm{R}_{2}) / m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$ vs. $m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$, for a resonance model with three gluons in the final state. The excluded regions from this search (black hatched) are optimized for the decay of a Kaluza--Klein gluon ($\mathrm{G}_{\mathrm{KK}}$) to a gluon ($\mathrm{g}$) and a radion ($\phi$), which in turns decays to two gluons, leading to a final state with three gluons ($\mathrm{ggg}$). The couplings of the model are set to the values $g_{\mathrm{grav}} = 6.0$ and $g_{\mathrm{GKK}} = 3.0$. These excluded regions are compared with those obtained from a reinterpretation of the inclusive CMS dijet resonance search (JHEP 05 (2020) 033), which is more sensitive to the decay channel of $\mathrm{G}_{\mathrm{KK}}$ to a quark-antiquark pair (red hatched). The vertical band between the $m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$ values of $\sim$3.0 and $\sim$3.1 TeV, for $m(\mathrm{R}_{2}) / m(\mathrm{R}_{1}) \lesssim 0.19$, is not excluded by the dijet search because of an upward statistical fluctuation in the observed limit. The white, dashed lines represent a sample of curves corresponding to fixed $m(\mathrm{R}_{2})$ values.
Expected 95% CL upper limits on signal cross section times branching fraction, as a function of the ratio $m(\mathrm{R}_{2})/m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$ vs. $m(\mathrm{R}_{1})$, for a trijet resonance model with 3 gluons in the final state. The limits are optimized for the decay of a Kaluza-Klein gluon ($\mathrm{G}_{\mathrm{KK}}$) to a radion ($\phi$) and a gluon ($\mathrm{g}$) where the radion itself decays to 2 gluons, leading to a final state with 3 gluons ($\mathrm{ggg}$).
A search for Kaluza-Klein excited vector boson resonances, $W_\mathrm{KK}$, decaying in cascade to three W bosons via a scalar radion $R, W_\mathrm{KK}\to WR \to WWW$, with two or three massive jets is presented. The search is performed with proton-proton collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, during 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Two final states are simultaneously probed, one where the two W bosons produced by the R decay are reconstructed as separate, large-radius, massive jets, and one where they are merged in a single large-radius jet. The observed data are in agreement with the standard model expectations. Limits are set on the product of the $W_\mathrm{KK}$ resonance cross section and branching fraction to three W bosons in an extended warped extra-dimensional model and are the first of their kind at the LHC.
Distribution of $m_{\mathrm{jj}}$ for preselected events with $\mathrm{N}_{j}$ = 2
Distribution of $m_{\mathrm{j}}$ for preselected events with $\mathrm{N}_{j}$ = 2
Distribution of the deep-WH value of the highest-mass jet with $m_{\mathrm{j}}$ > 100 GeV for preselected events with $\mathrm{N}_{j}$ = 2
Multiparticle azimuthal correlations of prompt D$^0$ mesons are measured in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV. For the first time, a four-particle cumulant method is used to extract the second Fourier coefficient of the azimuthal distribution ($v_2$) of D$^0$ mesons as a function of event centrality and the D$^0$ transverse momentum. The ratios of the four-particle $v_2$ values to previously measured two-particle cumulant results provide direct experimental access to event-by-event fluctuations of charm quark azimuthal anisotropies. These ratios are also found to be comparable to those of inclusive charged particles in the event. However, hints of deviations are seen in the most central and peripheral collisions. To investigate the origin of flow fluctuations in the charm sector, these measurements are compared with models implementing fluctuations of charm quark energy loss via collisional or radiative processes in the quark-gluon plasma. These models cannot quantitatively describe the data over the full transverse momentum and centrality ranges, although the calculations with collisional energy loss provide a better description of the data.
Prompt $D^0+\overline{D}^0$ meson $v_2\{2\}$, $v_2\{4\}$, and $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ as a function of $p_T$ from PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV.
Prompt $D^0+\overline{D}^0$ meson $v_2\{2\}$, $v_2\{4\}$, and $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ as a function of $p_T$ from PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV.
Prompt $D^0+\overline{D}^0$ meson $v_2\{2\}$, $v_2\{4\}$, and $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ as a function of centrality from PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV.
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.
The normalized distribution of the characteristic variable $R_{\text{T}}$ for the simulated SM backgrounds and several signal models. The requirement on this variable is omitted, but all other preselection requirements are applied. The last bin of each histogram includes the overflow events.
The normalized distribution of the characteristic variable $\Delta\phi_{\text{min}}$ for the simulated SM backgrounds and several signal models. The requirement on this variable is omitted, but all other preselection requirements are applied. The last bin of each histogram includes the overflow events.
The normalized distributions of the BDT input variable $m_{\text{SD}}$ for the two highest $p_{\text{T}}$ jets from the simulated SM backgrounds and several signal models. Each sample's jet $p_{\text{T}}$ distribution is weighted to match a reference distribution (see text). The last bin of each histogram includes the overflow events.
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