Searches for the exclusive decays of Higgs and $Z$ bosons into a vector quarkonium state and a photon are performed in the $\mu^+\mu^- \gamma$ final state with a proton$-$proton collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $139$ fb$^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The observed data are compatible with the expected backgrounds. The 95% confidence-level upper limits on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays into $J/\psi \gamma$, $\psi(2S) \gamma$, and $\Upsilon(1S,2S,3S) \gamma$ are found to be $2.0\times10^{-4}$, $10.5\times10^{-4}$, and $(2.5,4.2,3.4)\times10^{-4}$, respectively, assuming Standard Model production of the Higgs boson. The corresponding 95% CL upper limits on the branching fractions of the $Z$ boson decays are $1.2\times10^{-6}$, $2.4\times10^{-6}$, and $(1.1,1.3,2.4)\times10^{-6}$. An observed 95% CL interval of $(-133,175)$ is obtained for the $\kappa_c/\kappa_\gamma$ ratio of Higgs boson coupling modifiers, and a 95% CL interval of $(-37,40)$ is obtained for $\kappa_b/\kappa_\gamma$.
Measurements of differential cross sections d$\sigma$/d$\phi^*$ and double-differential cross sections d$^2\sigma$/d$\phi^*\,$d$|y|$ for inclusive Z boson production are presented using the dielectron and dimuon final states. The kinematic observable $\phi^*$ correlates with the dilepton transverse momentum but has better resolution, and $y$ is the dilepton rapidity. The analysis is based on data collected with the CMS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb$^{-1}$. The normalised cross section (1/$\sigma$)$\,$d$\sigma$/d$\phi^*$, within the fiducial kinematic region, is measured with a precision of better than 0.5% for $\phi^*$ < 1. The measurements are compared to theoretical predictions and they agree, typically, within few percent.
Inclusive jet spectra from pp and PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, are presented. Jets are reconstructed with three different distance parameters (R = 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) for transverse momentum (pT) greater than 70 GeV and pseudorapidity abs(eta) < 2. Next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamic calculations with non-perturbative corrections are found to over-predict jet production cross sections in pp for small distance parameters. The jet nuclear modification factors for PbPb compared to pp collisions, show a steady decrease from peripheral to central events, along with a weak dependence on the jet pT. They are found to be independent of the distance parameter in the measured kinematic range.
The transverse momentum balance of pairs of back-to-back b quark jets in PbPb and pp collisions recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC is reported. The center-of-mass energy in both collision systems is 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. Compared to the pp collision baseline, b quark jets have a larger imbalance in the most central PbPb collisions, as expected from the jet quenching effect. The data are also compared to the corresponding measurement with inclusive dijets. In the most central collisions, the imbalance of b quark dijets is comparable to that of inclusive dijets.
A measurement of the W boson helicity is presented, where the W boson originates from the decay of a top quark produced in pp collisions. The event selection, optimized for reconstructing a single top quark in the final state, requires exactly one isolated lepton (muon or electron) and exactly two jets, one of which is likely to originate from the hadronization of a bottom quark. The analysis is performed using data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2012. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measured helicity fractions are F[L] = 0.298 +/- 0.028 (stat) +\- 0.032 (syst), F[0] = 0.720 +/- 0.039 (stat) +/- 0.037 (syst), and F[R] = -0.018 +/- 0.019 (stat) +/- 0.011 (syst). These results are used to set limits on the real part of the tWb anomalous couplings, gL and gR.
A search for a heavy Higgs boson in the H to WW and H to ZZ decay channels is reported. The search is based upon proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and up to 19.7 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Several final states of the H to WW and H to ZZ decays are analyzed. The combined upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction exclude a Higgs boson with standard model-like couplings and decays in the range 145 < m[H] < 1000 GeV. We also interpret the results in the context of an electroweak singlet extension of the standard model.
The WZ production cross section is measured by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9 inverse femtobarns collected at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV, and 19.6 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s)= 8 TeV. The measurements are performed using the fully-leptonic WZ decay modes with electrons and muons in the final state. The measured cross sections for 71 < m[Z] < 111 GeV are sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 7 TeV) = 20.14 +/- 1.32 (stat) +/- 1.13 (syst) +/- 0.44 (lumi) pb and sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 8 TeV) = 24.09 +/- 0.87 (stat) +/- 1.62 (syst) +/- 0.63 (lumi) pb. Differential cross sections with respect to the Z boson pt, the leading jet pt, and the number of jets are obtained using the sqrt(s)= 8 TeV data. The results are consistent with standard model predictions and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings are obtained.
A search for new physics is performed based on all-hadronic events with large missing transverse momentum produced in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns, was collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2015. The data are examined in search regions of jet multiplicity, tagged bottom quark jet multiplicity, missing transverse momentum, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta. The observed numbers of events in all search regions are found to be consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Exclusion limits are presented for simplified supersymmetric models of gluino pair production. Depending on the assumed gluino decay mechanism, and for a massless, weakly interacting, lightest neutralino, lower limits on the gluino mass from 1440 to 1600 GeV are obtained, significantly extending previous limits.
Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle ($\Delta-\phi$) and pseudorapidity ($\Delta-\eta$) are measured in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1 $\mu b^{-1}$ of data as a function of $p_T$ and the transverse energy ($\sum E_T^{Pb}$) summed over 3.1 < $\eta$ < 4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|$\Delta-\eta$|<5) near-side ($\Delta-\phi$ ~ 0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing $\sum E_T^{Pb}$. A long-range away-side ($\Delta-\phi$ ~ pi) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small $\sum E_T^{Pb}$, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in $\Delta-\eta$ and $\Delta-\phi$) and $\sum E_T^{Pb}$ dependence. The resultant $\Delta-\phi$ correlation is approximately symmetric about $\pi$/2, and is consistent with a cos(2$\Delta-\phi$) modulation for all $\sum E_T^{Pb}$ ranges and particle $p_T$. The amplitude of this modulation is comparable in magnitude and $p_T$ dependence to similar modulations observed in heavy-ion collisions, suggestive of final-state collective effects in high multiplicity events.
Double-differential dijet cross sections measured in pp collisions at the LHC with a 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy are presented as functions of dijet mass and rapidity separation of the two highest-pT jets. These measurements are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.5/fb, recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2011. The data are corrected for detector effects so that cross sections are presented at the particle level. Cross sections are measured up to 5 TeV dijet mass using jets reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm for values of the jet radius parameter of 0.4 and 0.6. The cross sections are compared with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations by NLOJET++ corrected to account for non-perturbative effects. Comparisons with POWHEG predictions, using a next-to-leading-order matrix element calculation interfaced to a parton-shower Monte Carlo simulation, are also shown. Electroweak effects are accounted for in both cases. The quantitative comparison of data and theoretical predictions obtained using various parameterizations of the parton distribution functions is performed using a frequentist method. An example setting a lower limit on the compositeness scale for a model of contact interactions is presented, showing that the unfolded results can be used to constrain contributions to dijet production beyond that predicted by the Standard Model.
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