Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions recreate in the laboratory the thermodynamical conditions prevailing in the early universe up to 10$^{-6}$ seconds, thereby allowing the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter with deconfined partons. The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, is accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC, and constitutes a novel probe of the QGP. Here, we report the first-ever evidence for the production of top quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions, using lead-lead collision data at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment. Two methods are used to measure the cross section for top quark pair production ($\sigma_\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) via the decay into charged leptons (electrons or muons) and bottom quarks. One method relies on the leptonic information alone, and the second one exploits, in addition, the presence of bottom quarks. The measured cross sections, $\sigma_\mathrm{t\bar{t}} = $ 2.54 $^{+0.84}_{-0.74}$ and 2.03 $^{+0.71}_{-0.64}$ $\mu$b, respectively, are compatible with expectations from scaled proton-proton data and QCD predictions.
A search is presented for long-lived charged particles that decay within the volume of the silicon tracker of the CMS experiment. Such particles can produce events with an isolated track that is missing hits in the outermost layers of the silicon tracker, and is also associated with little energy deposited in the calorimeters and no hits in the muon detectors. The search for events with this "disappearing track" signature is performed in a sample of proton-proton collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$ recorded in 2017 and 2018. The observation of 48 events is consistent with the estimated background of 47.8 $_{-2.3}^{+2.7}$ (stat) $\pm$ 8.1 (syst) events. Upper limits are set on chargino production in the context of an anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking model for purely wino and higgsino neutralino scenarios. At 95% confidence level, the first constraint is placed on chargino masses in the higgsino case, excluding below 750 (175) GeV for a lifetime of 3 (0.05) ns. In the wino case, the results of this search are combined with a previous CMS search to produce a result representing the complete LHC data set recorded in 2015-2018, the most stringent constraints to date. At 95% confidence level, chargino masses in the wino case are excluded below 884 (474) GeV for a lifetime of 3 (0.2) ns.
Jet production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV is studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using PbPb and pp data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 404 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 27.4 pb$^{-1}$, respectively. Jets with different areas are reconstructed using the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm by varying the distance parameter $R$. The measurements are performed using jets with transverse momenta ($p_\mathrm{T}$) greater than 200 GeV and in a pseudorapidity range of $|\eta|$$\lt$ 2. To reveal the medium modification of the jet spectra in PbPb collisions, the properly normalized ratio of spectra from PbPb and pp data is used to extract jet nuclear modification factors as functions of the PbPb collision centrality, $p_\mathrm{T}$ and, for the first time, as a function of $R$ up to 1.0. For the most central collisions, a strong suppression is observed for high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ jets reconstructed with all distance parameters, implying that a significant amount of jet energy is scattered to large angles. The dependence of jet suppression on $R$ is expected to be sensitive to both the jet energy loss mechanism and the medium response, and so the data are compared to several modern event generators and analytic calculations. The models considered do not fully reproduce the data.
The first search for soft unclustered energy patterns (SUEPs) is performed using an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected in 2016-2018 by the CMS detector at the LHC. Such SUEPs are predicted by Hidden Valley models with a new, confining force with a large 't Hooft coupling. In events with boosted topologies, selected by high-threshold hadronic triggers, the multiplicity and sphericity of clustered tracks are used to reject the background from standard model quantum chromodynamics. With no observed excess of events over the standard model expectation, limits are set on the cross section for production via gluon fusion of a scalar mediator with SUEP-like decays.
We present the first study of charged-hadron production associated with jets originating from b quarks in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The data sample used in this study was collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$. To characterize the jet substructure, the differential jet shapes, defined as the normalized transverse momentum distribution of charged hadrons as a function of angular distance from the jet axis, are measured for b jets. In addition to the jet shapes, the per-jet yields of charged particles associated with b jets are also quantified, again as a function of the angular distance with respect to the jet axis. Extracted jet shape and particle yield distributions for b jets are compared with results for inclusive jets, as well as with the predictions from the PYTHIA and HERWIG++ event generators.
A measurement of the W$^+$W$^-$ boson pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV is presented. The data used in this study are collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The W$^+$W$^-$ candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons). Two methods for reducing background contributions are employed. In the first one, a sequence of requirements on kinematic quantities is applied allowing a measurement of the total production cross section: 117.6 $\pm$ 6.8 pb, which agrees well with the theoretical prediction. Fiducial cross sections are also reported for events with zero or one jet, and the change in the zero-jet fiducial cross section with the jet transverse momentum threshold is measured. Normalized differential cross sections are reported within the fiducial region. A second method for suppressing background contributions employs two random forest classifiers. The analysis based on this method includes a measurement of the total production cross section and also a measurement of the normalized jet multiplicity distribution in W$^+$W$^-$ events. Finally, a dilepton invariant mass distribution is used to probe for physics beyond the standard model in the context of an effective field theory, and constraints on the presence of dimension-6 operators are derived.
A search is presented for fractionally charged particles with charge below 1$e$, using their small energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to observe a signal. The analyzed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV in 2016-2018 at the CERN LHC. This is the first search at the LHC for new particles with charges between $e/$3 and 0.9$e$, including an extension of previous results at a charge of 2$e/$3. Masses up to 640 GeV and charges as low as $e/$3 are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits to date for the considered Drell-Yan-like production mode.
Charged hadron elliptic anisotropies ($v_2$) are presented over a wide transverse momentum ($p_\text{T}$) range for proton-lead (pPb) and lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies of 8.16 and 5.02 TeV, respectively. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment and correspond to integrated luminosities of 186 nb$^{-1}$ and 0.607 nb$^{-1}$ for the pPb and PbPb systems, respectively. A four-particle cumulant analysis is performed using subevents separated in pseudorapidity to effectively suppress non-collective effects. At high $p_\text{T}$ ($p_\text{T}$$\gt$ 8 GeV), significant positive $v_2$ values are observed that are similar between pPb and PbPb collisions at comparable charged particle multiplicities. This observation suggests a common origin for the multi-particle collectivity for high-$p_\text{T}$ particles in the two systems.
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 first search for singly produced narrow resonances decaying to three well-separated hadronic jets is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected at the CERN LHC. No significant deviations from the background predictions are observed between 1.75-9.00 TeV. The results provide the first mass limits on a right-handed boson Z$_{\mathrm{R}}$ decaying to three gluons and on an excited quark decaying via a vector boson to three quarks, as well as updated limits on a Kaluza-Klein gluon decaying via a radion to three gluons.
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