A search for the violation of the charge-parity ($CP$) symmetry in the production of top quarks in association with Z bosons is presented, using events with at least three charged leptons and additional jets. The search is performed in a sample of proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and in 2022 at 13.6 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 173 fb$^{-1}$. For the first time in this final state, observables that are odd under the $CP$ transformation are employed. Also for the first time, physics-informed machine-learning techniques are used to construct these observables. While for standard model (SM) processes the distributions of these observables are predicted to be symmetric around zero, $CP$-violating modifications of the SM would introduce asymmetries. Two $CP$-odd operators $\mathcal{O}_\text{tW}^\text{I}$ and $\mathcal{O}_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$ in the SM effective field theory are considered that may modify the interactions between top quarks and electroweak bosons. The obtained results are consistent with the SM prediction within two standard deviations, and exclusion limits on the associated Wilson coefficients of $-$2.7 $\lt$$c_\text{tW}^\text{I}$$\lt$ 2.5 and $-$0.2 $\lt$$c_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$$\lt$ 2.0 are set at 95% confidence level. The largest discrepancy is observed in $c_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$ where data is consistent with positive values, with an observed local significance with respect to the SM hypothesis of 2.5 standard deviations, when only linear terms are considered.
Using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV in 2016$-$2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$, the first full reconstruction of the three vector B meson states, B$^{*+}$, B$^{*0}$, and B$^{*0}_\text{s}$, is performed. The mass differences between the excited mesons and their corresponding ground states are measured to be $m(\text{B}^{*+})-m(\text{B}^+)$ = 45.277 $\pm$ 0.039 $\pm$ 0.027 MeV, $m(\text{B}^{*0})- m(\text{B}^0)$ = 45.471 $\pm$ 0.056 $\pm$ 0.028 MeV, and $m(\text{B}^{*0}_\text{s})-m(\text{B}_\text{s})$ = 49.407 $\pm$ 0.132 $\pm$ 0.041 MeV, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results improve on the precision of previous measurements by an order of magnitude.
A search for long-lived particles originating from the decay of b hadrons produced in proton-proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC is presented. The analysis is performed on a data set recorded in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.6 fb$^{-1}$. Interactions of the long-lived particles in the CMS endcap muon system would create hadronic or electromagnetic showers, producing clusters of detector hits. Selected events contain at least one such high-multiplicity cluster in the muon endcaps and require the presence of a displaced muon. The most stringent upper limits to date on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(B $\to$ K$Φ$), where the long-lived particle $Φ$ decays to a pair of hadrons, are obtained for $Φ$ masses of 0.3$-$3.0 GeV and $Φ$ mean proper decay lengths in the range of 1$-$500 cm.
A search for flavor violating decays of the Z boson to charged leptons is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Each of the decays Z $\to$ e$μ$, Z $\to$ e$τ$, and Z $\to$$μτ$ is considered. The data are consistent with the backgrounds expected from standard model processes. For the Z $\to$ e$μ$ channel the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction is 1.9 (2.0) $\times$ 10$^{-7}$, which is the most stringent direct limit to date on this process; the corresponding limits for the Z $\to$ e$τ$ and Z $\to$ $μτ$ channels are 13.8 (11.4) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ and 12.0 (5.3) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$, respectively. Additionally, the e$μ$ final state is used to search for lepton flavor violating decays of Z' resonances in the mass range from 110 to 500 GeV. No significant excess is observed above the predicted background levels.
A search is presented for a new scalar resonance, X, decaying to a standard model Higgs boson and another new scalar particle, Y, in the final state where the Higgs boson decays to a $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ pair, while the Y particle decays to a pair of photons. The search is performed in the mass range 240$-$100 \GeV for the resonance X, and in the mass range 70$-$800 GeV for the particle Y, using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$^{-1}$. In general, the data are found to be compatible with the standard model expectation. Observed (expected) upper limits at 95% confidence level on the product of the production cross section and the relevant branching fraction are extracted for the X $\to$ YH process, and are found to be within the range of 0.05$-$2.69 (0.08$-$1.94) fb, depending on $m_\mathrm{X}$ and $m_\mathrm{Y}$. The most significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed for X and Y masses of 300 and 77 GeV, respectively, with a local (global) significance of 3.33 (0.65) standard deviations.
The traditional quark model accounts for the existence of baryons, such as protons and neutrons, which consist of three quarks, as well as mesons, composed of a quark-antiquark pair. Only recently has substantial evidence started to accumulate for exotic states composed of four or five quarks and antiquarks. The exact nature of their internal structure remains uncertain. This paper reports the first measurement of quantum numbers of the recently discovered family of three all-charm tetraquarks, using data collected by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider from 2016 to 2018. The angular analysis techniques developed for the discovery and characterization of the Higgs boson have been applied to the new exotic states. The quantum numbers for parity $P$ and charge conjugation $C$ symmetries are found to be +1. The spin $J$ of these exotic states is consistent with 2$\hbar$, while 0$\hbar$ and 1$\hbar$ are excluded at 95% and 99% confidence level, respectively. The $J^{PC}=2^{++}$ assignment implies particular configurations of constituent spins and orbital angular momenta, which constrain the possible internal structure of these tetraquarks.
A reinterpretation of a prior narrow-resonance search is performed to investigate the resonant production of pairs of dijet resonances via broad mediators. This analysis targets events with four resolved jets, requiring dijet invariant masses greater than 0.2 TeV and four-jet invariant masses greater than 1.6 TeV. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The reinterpretation considers the production of new heavy four-jet resonances, with widths ranging from 1.5 to 10% of their mass, which decay to a pair of dijet resonances. This analysis probes resonant production in the four-jet and dijet mass distributions. Upper limits at 95% confidence level and significances are reported on the production cross section of new resonances as functions of their widths and masses, between 2 and 10 TeV. In particular, at a four-jet resonance mass of 8.6 TeV, the local (global) significance ranges from 3.9 (1.6) to 3.6 (1.4) standard deviations (s.d.) as the resonance width is increased from 1.5 to 10%. This relative insensitivity to the choice of width indicates that a broad resonance is an equally valid interpretation of this excess. The broad resonance hypothesis at a resonance mass of 8.6 TeV is supported by the presence of an event with a four-jet mass of 5.8 TeV and an average dijet mass of 2.0 TeV. Also, we report the reinterpretation of a second effect, at a four-jet resonance mass of 3.6 TeV, which has a local (global) significance of up to 3.9 (2.2) s.d.
A measurement is presented of the cross section in proton-proton collisions for the production of two W bosons and one Z boson. It is based on data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 and 13.6 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 200 fb$^{-1}$. Events with four charged leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state are selected. Both nonresonant WWZ production and ZH production, with the Higgs boson decaying into two W bosons, are reported. For the first time, the two processes are measured separately in a simultaneous fit. Combining the two modes, signal strengths relative to the standard model (SM) predictions of 0.75$^{+0.34}_{-0.29}$ and 1.74$^{+0.71}_{-0.60}$ are measured for $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 and 13.6 TeV, respectively. The observed (expected) significance for the triboson signal is 3.8 (2.5) standard deviations for $\sqrt{s}$ = 13.6 TeV, thus providing the first evidence for triboson production at this center-of-mass energy. Combining the two modes and the two center-of-mass energies, the inclusive signal strength relative to the SM prediction is measured to be 1.03$^{+0.31}_{-0.28}$, with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (5.0) standard deviations.
A search for resonances in top quark pair ($\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$) production in final states with two charged leptons and multiple jets is presented, based on proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis explores the invariant mass of the $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$ system and two angular observables that provide direct access to the correlation of top quark and antiquark spins. A significant excess of events is observed near the kinematic $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$ threshold compared to the nonresonant production predicted by fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD). The observed enhancement is consistent with the production of a color-singlet pseudoscalar ($^1$S$^{[1]}_0$) quasi-bound toponium state, as predicted by nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics. Using a simplified model for $^1$S$^{[1]}_0$ toponium, the cross section of the excess above the pQCD prediction is measured to be 8.8 $^{+1.2}_{-1.4}$ pb.
This paper presents a search for a Higgs boson produced in association with a charm quark (cH) which allows to probe the Higgs-charm Yukawa coupling strength modifier $κ_\mathrm{c}$. Higgs boson decays to a pair of W bosons are considered, where one W boson decays to an electron and a neutrino, and the other \PW boson decays to a muon and a neutrino. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$, were collected between 2016 and 2018 with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level (CL) are set on the ratio of the measured yield to the standard model expectation for cH production. The observed (expected) upper limit is 1065 (506). When combined with the previous search for cH in the diphoton decay channel of the Higgs boson, the limits are interpreted as observed (expected) constraints at 95% CL on the value of $κ_\mathrm{c}$, $\lvertκ_\mathrm{c}\rvert$ $\lt$ 47 (51).
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