A generic search is presented for the associated production of a Z boson or a photon with an additional unspecified massive particle X, pp $\to$ pp + Z/$\gamma$ + X, in proton-tagged events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, recorded in 2017 with the CMS detector and the CMS-TOTEM precision proton spectrometer. The missing mass spectrum is analysed in the 600-1600 GeV range and a fit is performed to search for possible deviations from the background expectation. No significant excess in data with respect to the background predictions has been observed. Model-independent upper limits on the visible production cross section of pp $\to$ pp + Z/$\gamma$ + X are set.
A search for direct production of low-mass dimuon resonances is performed using $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment during the 2017-2018 operation of the CERN LHC with an integrated luminosity of 96.6 fb$^{-1}$. The search exploits a dedicated high-rate trigger stream that records events with two muons with transverse momenta as low as 3 GeV but does not include the full event information. The search is performed by looking for narrow peaks in the dimuon mass spectrum in the ranges of 1.1-2.6 GeV and 4.2-7.9 GeV. No significant excess of events above the expectation from the standard model background is observed. Model-independent limits on production rates of dimuon resonances within the experimental fiducial acceptance are set. Competitive or world's best limits are set at 90% confidence level for a minimal dark photon model and for a scenario with two Higgs doublets and an extra complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S). Values of the squared kinetic mixing coefficient $\varepsilon^2$ in the dark photon model above 10$^{-6}$ are excluded over most of the mass range of the search. In the 2HDM+S, values of the mixing angle $\sin(\theta_\text{H})$ above 0.08 are excluded over most of the mass range of the search with a fixed ratio of the Higgs doublets vacuum expectation $\tan\beta$ = 0.5.
The inclusive jet cross section is measured as a function of jet transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity $y$. The measurement is performed using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$. The jets are reconstructed with the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm using a distance parameter of $R$ = 0.4, within the rapidity interval $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2, and across the kinematic range 0.06 $\lt$$p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 1 TeV. The jet cross section is unfolded from detector to particle level using the determined jet response and resolution. The results are compared to predictions of perturbative quantum chromodynamics, calculated at both next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order. The predictions are corrected for nonperturbative effects, and presented for a variety of parton distribution functions and choices of the renormalization / factorization scales and the strong coupling $\alpha_\mathrm{S}$.
The results of a search for Higgs boson pair (HH) production in the WW*WW*, WW*$\tau\tau$, and $\tau\tau\tau\tau$ decay modes are presented. The search uses 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV from 2016 to 2018. Analyzed events contain two, three, or four reconstructed leptons, including electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying tau leptons. No evidence for a signal is found in the data. Upper limits are set on the cross section for nonresonant HH production, as well as resonant production in which a new heavy particle decays to a pair of Higgs bosons. For nonresonant production, the observed (expected) upper limit on the cross section at 95% confidence level (CL) is 21.3 (19.4) times the standard model (SM) prediction. The observed (expected) ratio of the trilinear Higgs boson self-coupling to its value in the SM is constrained to be within the interval $-$6.9 to 11.1 ($-$6.9 to 11.7) at 95% CL, and limits are set on a variety of new-physics models using an effective field theory approach. The observed (expected) limits on the cross section for resonant HH production range from 0.18 to 0.90 (0.08 to 1.06) pb at 95% CL for new heavy-particle masses in the range 250-1000 GeV.
The strange quark content of the proton is probed through the measurement of the production cross section for a W boson and a charm (c) quark in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm jets are tagged using the presence of a muon or a secondary vertex inside the jet. The W+c production cross section and the cross section ratio $R^\pm_\text{c}$ = $\sigma$(W$^+$+$\bar{\text{c}}$) / $\sigma$(W$^-$+$\text{c}$) are measured inclusively and differentially as functions of the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the lepton originating from the W boson decay. The precision of the measurements is improved with respect to previous studies, reaching 1% in $R^\pm_\text{c}$. The precision of the measurements is improved with respect to previous studies, reaching 1% in $R^\pm_\text{c}$ = 0.950 $\pm$ 0.005 (stat) $\pm$ 0.010 (syst). The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions up to next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
A search for long-lived particles decaying in the outer regions of the CMS silicon tracker or in the calorimeters is presented. The search is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. A novel technique, using trackless and out-of-time jet information combined in a deep neural network discriminator, is employed to identify decays of long-lived particles. The results are interpreted in a simplified model of chargino-neutralino production, where the neutralino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, is long-lived, and decays to a gravitino and either a Higgs or Z boson. This search is most sensitive to neutralino proper decay lengths of approximately 0.5 m, for which masses up to 1.18 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. The current search is the best result to date in the mass range from the kinematic limit imposed by the Higgs mass up to 1.8 TeV.
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.
Measurements of jet substructure describing the composition of quark- and gluon-initiated jets are presented. Proton-proton (pp) collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV collected with the CMS detector are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. Generalized angularities are measured that characterize the jet substructure and distinguish quark- and gluon-initiated jets. These observables are sensitive to the distributions of transverse momenta and angular distances within a jet. The analysis is performed using a data sample of dijet events enriched in gluon-initiated jets, and, for the first time, a Z+jet event sample enriched in quark-initiated jets. The observables are measured in bins of jet transverse momentum, and as a function of the jet radius parameter. Each measurement is repeated applying a "soft drop" grooming procedure that removes soft and large angle radiation from the jet. Using these measurements, the ability of various models to describe jet substructure is assessed, showing a clear need for improvements in Monte Carlo generators.
A search for physics beyond the standard model (SM) in final states with an electron or muon and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016–2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. No significant deviation from the SM prediction is observed. Model-independent limits are set on the production cross section of W’ bosons decaying into lepton-plus-neutrino final states. Within the framework of the sequential standard model, with the combined results from the electron and muon decay channels a W’ boson with mass less than 5.7 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level. Results on a SM precision test, the determination of the oblique electroweak W parameter, are presented using LHC data for the first time. These results together with those from the direct W’ resonance search are used to extend existing constraints on composite Higgs scenarios. This is the first experimental exclusion on compositeness parameters using results from LHC data other than Higgs boson measurements.
Studies of $CP$ violation and anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson to vector bosons and fermions are presented. The data were acquired by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ at a proton-proton collision energy of 13 TeV. The kinematic effects in the Higgs boson's four-lepton decay H $\to$ 4$\ell$ and its production in association with two jets, a vector boson, or top quarks are analyzed, using a full detector simulation and matrix element techniques to identify the production mechanisms and to increase sensitivity to the Higgs boson tensor structure of the Higgs boson interactions. A simultaneous measurement is performed of up to five Higgs boson couplings to electroweak vector bosons (HVV), two couplings to gluons (Hgg), and two couplings to top quarks (Htt). The $CP$ measurement in the Htt interaction is combined with the recent measurement in the H $\to$$\gamma\gamma$ channel. The results are presented in the framework of anomalous couplings and are also interpreted in the framework of effective field theory, including the first study of $CP$ properties of the Htt and effective Hgg couplings from a simultaneous analysis of the gluon fusion and top-associated processes. The results are consistent with the standard model of particle physics.