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.
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 set of measurements for the production of a $W$-boson in association with high-transverse-momentum jets is presented using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed in final states in which the $W$-boson decays into an electron or muon plus a neutrino and is produced in association with jets with $p_{\text{T}}>30$ GeV, where the leading jet has $p_{\text{T}}>500$ GeV. The angular separation between the lepton and the closest jet with $p_{\text{T}}>100$ GeV is measured and used to define a collinear phase space, wherein measurements of kinematic properties of the $W$-boson and the associated jet are performed. The collinear phase space is populated by dijet events radiating a $W$-boson and events with a $W$-boson produced in association with several jets and it serves as an excellent data sample to probe higher-order theoretical predictions. Measured differential distributions are compared with predictions from state-of-the-art next-to-leading order multi-leg merged Monte Carlo event generators and a fixed-order calculation of the $W$+1-jet process computed at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant.
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 new long-lived particles decaying to leptons using proton-proton collision data produced by the CERN LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV is presented. Events are selected with two leptons (an electron and a muon, two electrons, or two muons) that both have transverse impact parameter values between 0.01 and 10 cm and are not required to form a common vertex. Data used for the analysis were collected with the CMS detector in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 118 (113) fb$^{-1}$ in the ee channel (e$\mu$ and $\mu\mu$ channels). The search is designed to be sensitive to a wide range of models with displaced e$\mu$, ee, and $\mu\mu$ final states. The results constrain several well-motivated models involving new long-lived particles that decay to displaced leptons. For some areas of the available phase space, these are the most stringent constraints to date.
A measurement of the dijet production cross section is reported based on proton-proton collision data collected in 2016 at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 36.3 fb$^{-1}$. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm for distance parameters of $R$ = 0.4 and 0.8. Cross sections are measured double-differentially (2D) as a function of the largest absolute rapidity $\lvert y_\text{max}\rvert$ of the two jets with the highest transverse momenta $p_\mathrm{T}$ and their invariant mass $m_{1,2}$, and triple-differentially (3D) as a function of the rapidity separation $y^*$, the total boost $y_\mathrm{b}$, and either $m_{1,2}$ or the average $p_\mathrm{T}$ of the two jets. The cross sections are unfolded to correct for detector effects and are compared with fixed-order calculations derived at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. The impact of the measurements on the parton distribution functions and the strong coupling constant at the mass of the Z boson is investigated, yielding a value of $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ = 0.1179 $\pm$ 0.0019.
A measurement of the inclusive jet production in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV is presented. The double-differential cross sections are measured as a function of the jet transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$ and the absolute jet rapidity $\lvert y \rvert$. The anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ clustering algorithm is used with distance parameter of 0.4 (0.7) in a phase space region with jet $p_\mathrm{T}$ from 97 GeV up to 3.1 TeV and $\lvert y \rvert\lt$ 2.0. Data collected with the CMS detector are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.3 fb$^{-1}$ (33.5 fb$^{-1}$). The measurement is used in a comprehensive QCD analysis at next-to-next-to-leading order, which results in significant improvement in the accuracy of the parton distributions in the proton. Simultaneously, the value of the strong coupling constant at the Z boson mass is extracted as $\alpha_\mathrm{S}$(Z) = 0.1170 $\pm$ 0.0019. For the first time, these data are used in a standard model effective field theory analysis at next-to-leading order, where parton distributions and the QCD parameters are extracted simultaneously with imposed constraints on the Wilson coefficient $c_1$ of 4-quark contact interactions. Note added: in the Addendum to this paper, available as Appendix B in this document, an improved value of $\alpha_\mathrm{S}$(Z) = 0.1166 $\pm$ 0.0017 has been extracted. This result supersedes the number in the above abstract of the original publication.
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.
A measurement of the angular structure of jets containing a prompt D$^0$ meson and of inclusive jets in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV is presented. The data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 301 pb$^{-1}$ were collected by the CMS experiment in 2017. Two jet grooming algorithms, late-$k_\mathrm{T}$ and soft drop, are used to study the intrajet radiation pattern using iterative Cambridge$-$Aachen declustering. The splitting-angle distributions of jets with transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) of around 100 GeV, obtained with these two algorithms, show that there is a shift of the distribution for jets containing a prompt D$^0$ meson with respect to inclusive jets. The shift observed in the late-$k_\mathrm{T}$ grooming approach is consistent with the dead-cone effect, whereas the shift for splittings selected with the soft-drop algorithm appears to be dominated by gluon splitting to charm quark-antiquark pairs. The measured distributions are corrected to the particle level and can be used to constrain model predictions for the substructure of high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ charm quark jets.