The TOTEM experiment has measured the charged particle pseudorapidity density dN_{ch}/deta in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV for 5.3<|eta|<6.4 in events with at least one charged particle with transverse momentum above 40 MeV/c in this pseudorapidity range. This extends the analogous measurement performed by the other LHC experiments to the previously unexplored forward eta region. The measurement refers to more than 99% of non-diffractive processes and to single and double diffractive processes with diffractive masses above ~3.4 GeV/c^2, corresponding to about 95% of the total inelastic cross-section. The dN_{ch}/deta has been found to decrease with |eta|, from 3.84 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.37(syst) at |eta| = 5.375 to 2.38 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.21(syst) at |eta| = 6.375. Several MC generators have been compared to data; none of them has been found to fully describe the measurement.
The first double diffractive cross-section measurement in the very forward region has been carried out by the TOTEM experiment at the LHC with center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV. By utilizing the very forward TOTEM tracking detectors T1 and T2, which extend up to |eta|=6.5, a clean sample of double diffractive pp events was extracted. From these events, we measured the cross-section sigma_DD =(116 +- 25) mub for events where both diffractive systems have 4.7 <|eta|_min < 6.5 .
At the LHC energy of $\sqrt s = 7\,{\mathrm { TeV}}$ , under various beam and background conditions, luminosities, and Roman Pot positions, TOTEM has measured the differential cross-section for proton-proton elastic scattering as a function of the four-momentum transfer squared t. The results of the different analyses are in excellent agreement demonstrating no sizeable dependence on the beam conditions. Due to the very close approach of the Roman Pot detectors to the beam center (≈5σ(beam)) in a dedicated run with β* = 90 m, |t|-values down to 5·10(−)(3) GeV(2) were reached. The exponential slope of the differential elastic cross-section in this newly explored |t|-region remained unchanged and thus an exponential fit with only one constant B = (19.9 ± 0.3) GeV(−)(2) over the large |t|-range from 0.005 to 0.2 GeV(2) describes the differential distribution well. The high precision of the measurement and the large fit range lead to an error on the slope parameter B which is remarkably small compared to previous experiments. It allows a precise extrapolation over the non-visible cross-section (only 9%) to t = 0. With the luminosity from CMS, the elastic cross-section was determined to be (25.4 ± 1.1) mb, and using in addition the optical theorem, the total pp cross-section was derived to be (98.6 ± 2.2) mb. For model comparisons the t-distributions are tabulated including the large |t|-range of the previous measurement (TOTEM Collaboration (Antchev G. et al), EPL, 95 (2011) 41001).
The TOTEM experiment has made a precise measurement of the elastic proton-proton differential cross-section at the centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 8 TeV based on a high-statistics data sample obtained with the beta* = 90 optics. Both the statistical and systematic uncertainties remain below 1%, except for the t-independent contribution from the overall normalisation. This unprecedented precision allows to exclude a purely exponential differential cross-section in the range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.027 < |t| < 0.2 GeV^2 with a significance greater than 7 sigma. Two extended parametrisations, with quadratic and cubic polynomials in the exponent, are shown to be well compatible with the data. Using them for the differential cross-section extrapolation to t = 0, and further applying the optical theorem, yields total cross-section estimates of (101.5 +- 2.1) mb and (101.9 +- 2.1) mb, respectively, in agreement with previous TOTEM measurements.
The the pseudorapidity density of charged particles dN$_{ch}$/d$\eta$ is measured by the TOTEM experiment in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV within the range 3.9 < $\eta$ < 4.7 and −6.95 < $\eta$ < −6.9. Data were collected in a low intensity LHC run with collisions occurring at a distance of 11.25 m from the nominal interaction point. The data sample is expected to include 96-97% of the inelastic proton-proton interactions. The measurement reported here considers charged particles with $P_T$ > 0 MeV/c, produced in inelastic interactions with at least one charged particle in −7 < $\eta$ < −6 or 3.7< $\eta$ < 4.8. The dN$_{ch}$/d$\eta$ has been found to decrease with |$\eta$|, from 5.11 ± 0.73 at $\eta$ =3.95 to 1.81 ± 0.56 at $\eta$ = −6.925. Several MC generators are compared to the data and are found to be within the systematic uncertainty of the measurement.
In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the observation of a Higgs boson at a mass of around 125 GeV. Ten years later, and with the data corresponding to the production of 30 times larger number of Higgs bosons, we have learnt much more about the properties of the Higgs boson. The CMS experiment has observed the Higgs boson in numerous fermionic and bosonic decay channels, established its spin-parity quantum numbers, determined its mass and measured its production cross sections in various modes. Here the CMS Collaboration reports the most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson, including the most stringent limit on the cross section for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons, on the basis of data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Within the uncertainties, all these observations are compatible with the predictions of the standard model of elementary particle physics. Much evidence points to the fact that the standard model is a low-energy approximation of a more comprehensive theory. Several of the standard model issues originate in the sector of Higgs boson physics. An order of magnitude larger number of Higgs bosons, expected to be examined over the next fifteen years, will help deepen our understanding of this crucial sector.
Using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS experiment in 2016-2018, the B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ $\to$ X(3872)$\phi$ decay is observed. Decays into J/$\psi\,\pi^+\pi^-$ and K$^+$K$^-$ are used to reconstruct, respectively, the X(3872) and $\phi$. The ratio of the product of branching fractions $\mathcal{B}($B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ $\to$ X(3872)$\phi)\,\mathcal{B}($X(3872) $\to$ J$/\psi\,\pi^+\pi^-)$ to the product $\mathcal{B}($B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ $\to$ $\psi$(2S)$\phi)\,\mathcal{B}(\psi$(2S) $\to$ J/$\psi\,\pi^+\pi^-)$ is measured to be (2.21 $\pm$ 0.29 (stat) $\pm$ 0.17 (syst))%. The ratio $\mathcal{B}($B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ $\to$ X(3872)$\phi) / \mathcal{B}($B$^{0}$ $\to$ X(3872)K$^0)$ is found to be consistent with one, while the ratio $\mathcal{B}($B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ $\to$ X(3872)$\phi) / \mathcal{B}($B$^+$ $\to$ X(3872)K$^+)$ is two times smaller. This suggests a difference in the production dynamics of the X(3872) in B$^0$ and B$^0_\mathrm{s}$ meson decays compared to B$^+$. The reported observation may shed new light on the nature of the X(3872) particle.
Proton-proton elastic scattering has been measured by the TOTEM experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at {\surd}s = 7 TeV in dedicated runs with the Roman Pot detectors placed as close as seven times the transverse beam size (sbeam) from the outgoing beams. After careful study of the accelerator optics and the detector alignment, |t|, the square of four-momentum transferred in the elastic scattering process, has been determined with an uncertainty of d t = 0.1GeV p|t|. In this letter, first results of the differential cross section are presented covering a |t|-range from 0.36 to 2.5GeV2. The differential cross-section in the range 0.36 < |t| < 0.47 GeV2 is described by an exponential with a slope parameter B = (23.6{\pm}0.5stat {\pm}0.4syst)GeV-2, followed by a significant diffractive minimum at |t| = (0.53{\pm}0.01stat{\pm}0.01syst)GeV2. For |t|-values larger than ~ 1.5GeV2, the cross-section exhibits a power law behaviour with an exponent of -7.8_\pm} 0.3stat{\pm}0.1syst. When compared to predictions based on the different available models, the data show a strong discriminative power despite the small t-range covered.
The structure of nucleons is multidimensional and depends on the transverse momenta, spatial geometry, and polarization of the constituent partons. Such a structure can be studied using high-energy photons produced in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions. The first measurement of the azimuthal angular correlations of exclusively produced events with two jets in photon-lead interactions at large momentum transfer is presented, a process that is considered to be sensitive to the underlying nuclear gluon polarization. This study uses a data sample of ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.38 nb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measured second harmonic of the correlation between the sum and difference of the two jet momenta is found to be positive, and rising, as the dijet momentum increases. A well-tuned model that has been successful at describing a wide range of proton scattering data from the HERA experiments fails to describe the observed correlations, suggesting the presence of gluon polarization effects.
The $\Xi^-_\mathrm{b} \pi^+ \pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum is investigated with an event sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$. The ground state $\Xi^-_\mathrm{b}$ is reconstructed via its decays to J$/\psi \Xi^-$ and J$/\psi \Xi^-\Lambda$K$^-$. A narrow resonance, labeled $\Xi_\mathrm{b}$(6100)$^-$, is observed at a $\Xi^-_\mathrm{b} \pi^+ \pi^-$ invariant mass of 6100.3 $\pm$ 0.2 (stat) $\pm$ 0.1 (syst) $\pm$ 0.6 ($\Xi^-_\mathrm{b}$) MeV, where the last uncertainty reflects the precision of the $\Xi^-_\mathrm{b}$ baryon mass. The upper limit on the $\Xi_\mathrm{b}$(6100)$^-$ natural width is determined to be 1.9 MeV at 95% confidence level. Following analogies with the established excited $\Xi_\mathrm{c}$ baryon states, the new $\Xi_\mathrm{b}$(6100)$^-$ resonance and its decay sequence are consistent with the orbitally excited $\Xi^-_\mathrm{b}$ baryon, with spin and parity quantum numbers $J^P=$ 3/2$^-$.