A search for the violation of the charge-parity ($CP$) symmetry in the production of top quarks in association with Z bosons is presented, using events with at least three charged leptons and additional jets. The search is performed in a sample of proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and in 2022 at 13.6 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 173 fb$^{-1}$. For the first time in this final state, observables that are odd under the $CP$ transformation are employed. Also for the first time, physics-informed machine-learning techniques are used to construct these observables. While for standard model (SM) processes the distributions of these observables are predicted to be symmetric around zero, $CP$-violating modifications of the SM would introduce asymmetries. Two $CP$-odd operators $\mathcal{O}_\text{tW}^\text{I}$ and $\mathcal{O}_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$ in the SM effective field theory are considered that may modify the interactions between top quarks and electroweak bosons. The obtained results are consistent with the SM prediction within two standard deviations, and exclusion limits on the associated Wilson coefficients of $-$2.7 $\lt$$c_\text{tW}^\text{I}$$\lt$ 2.5 and $-$0.2 $\lt$$c_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$$\lt$ 2.0 are set at 95% confidence level. The largest discrepancy is observed in $c_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$ where data is consistent with positive values, with an observed local significance with respect to the SM hypothesis of 2.5 standard deviations, when only linear terms are considered.
A measurement is presented of a ratio observable that provides a measure of the azimuthal correlations among jets with large transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$. This observable is measured in multijet events over the range of $p_\mathrm{T}$ = 360-3170 GeV based on data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 134 fb$^{-1}$. The results are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo parton-shower event generator simulations, as well as with fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) predictions at next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy obtained with different parton distribution functions (PDFs) and corrected for nonperturbative and electroweak effects. Data and theory agree within uncertainties. From the comparison of the measured observable with the pQCD prediction obtained with the NNPDF3.1 NLO PDFs, the strong coupling at the Z boson mass scale is $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ = 0.1177 $\pm$ 0.0013 (exp) $_{-0.0073}^{+0.0116}$ (theo) = 0.1177 $_{-0.0074}^{+0.0117}$, where the total uncertainty is dominated by the scale dependence of the fixed-order predictions. A test of the running of $\alpha_\mathrm{S}(m_\mathrm{Z})$ in the TeV region shows no deviation from the expected NLO pQCD behaviour.
Measurements of the polarization and spin correlation in top quark pairs ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) are presented using events with a single electron or muon and jets in the final state. The measurements are based on proton-proton collision data from the LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. All coefficients of the polarization vectors and the spin correlation matrix are extracted simultaneously by performing a binned likelihood fit to the data. The measurement is performed inclusively and in bins of additional observables, such as the mass of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ system and the top quark scattering angle in the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ rest frame. The measured polarization and spin correlation are in agreement with the standard model. From the measured spin correlation, conclusions on the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ spin entanglement are drawn by applying the Peres-Horodecki criterion. The standard model predicts entangled spins for $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ states at the production threshold and at high masses of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ system. Entanglement is observed for the first time in events at high $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ mass, where a large fraction of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ decays are space-like separated, with an expected and observed significance of above 5 standard deviations.
The first observation of coherent $\phi$(1020) meson photoproduction off heavy nuclei is presented using ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.36 TeV. The data were collected by the CMS experiment and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.68 $\mu$b$^{-1}$. The $\phi$(1020) meson signals are reconstructed via the K$^+$K$^-$ decay channel. The production cross section is presented as a function of the $\phi$(1020) meson rapidity in the range 0.3 $\lt$$\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 1.0, probing gluons that carry a fraction of the nucleon momentum ($x$) around $10^{-4}$. The observed cross section exhibits little dependence on rapidity and is significantly suppressed, by a factor of ${\sim}$5, compared to a baseline model that treats a nucleus as a collection of free nucleons. Theoretical models that incorporate either nuclear shadowing or gluon saturation predict suppression of the $\phi$(1020) meson cross section with only a small dependence on rapidity, but the magnitude of the predicted suppression varies greatly. Models considering only nuclear shadowing effects result in the best agreement with the experimental data. This study establishes a powerful new tool for exploring nuclear effects and nuclear gluonic structure in the small-$x$ regime at a unique energy scale bridging the perturbative and nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics domains.
The first measurement of the dijet transverse momentum balance $x_j$ in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV is presented. The $x_j$ observable, defined as the ratio of the subleading over leading jet transverse momentum in a dijet pair, is used to search for jet quenching effects. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 174.6 nb$^{-1}$, were collected with the CMS detector in 2016. The $x_j$ distributions and their average values are studied as functions of the charged-particle multiplicity of the events and for various dijet rapidity selections. The latter enables probing hard scattering of partons carrying distinct nucleon momentum fractions \x in the proton- and lead-going directions. The former, aided by the high-multiplicity triggers, allows probing for potential jet quenching effects in high-multiplicity events (with up to 400 charged particles), for which collective phenomena consistent with quark-gluon plasma (QGP) droplet formation were previously observed. The ratios of $x_j$ distributions for high- to low-multiplicity events are used to quantify the possible medium effects. These ratios are consistent with simulations of the hard-scattering process that do not include QGP production. These measurements set an upper limit on medium-induced energy loss of the subleading jet of 1.26% of its transverse momentum at the 90% confidence level in high multiplicity pPb events.
A search is reported for charge-parity $CP$ violation in D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ decays, using data collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment in 2018. The analysis uses a dedicated data set that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 41.6 fb$^{-1}$, which consists of about 10 billion events containing a pair of b hadrons, nearly all of which decay to charm hadrons. The flavor of the neutral D meson is determined by the pion charge in the reconstructed decays D$^{*+}$$\to$ D$^0\pi^+$ and D$^{*-}$$\to$ D$^0\pi^-$. The $CP$ asymmetry in D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ is measured to be $A_{CP}$(K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$) = (6.2 $\pm$ 3.0 $\pm$ 0.2 $\pm$ 0.8)%, where the three uncertainties represent the statistical uncertainty, the systematic uncertainty, and the uncertainty in the measurement of the $CP$ asymmetry in the D$^0$ $\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}\pi^+\pi^-$ decay. This is the first $CP$ asymmetry measurement by CMS in the charm sector as well as the first to utilize a fully hadronic final state.
The inclusive cross section of top quark-antiquark pairs produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV is measured in the lepton$+$jets and dilepton decay channels. The data sample corresponds to 9.7 fb${}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded with the D0 detector during Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Employing multivariate analysis techniques we measure the cross section in the two decay channels and we perform a combined cross section measurement. For a top quark mass of 172.5 GeV, we measure a combined inclusive top quark-antiquark pair production cross section of $\sigma_{t\bar{t}} = 7.26 \pm 0.13\,(\mathrm{stat.})\,^{+0.57}_{-0.50}\,(\mathrm{syst.})$ pb which is consistent with standard model predictions. We also perform a likelihood fit to the measured and predicted top quark mass dependence of the inclusive cross section, which yields a measurement of the pole mass of the top quark. The extracted value is $m_t = 172.8 \pm 1.1\,(\mathrm{theo.})\,^{+3.3}_{-3.1}\,(\mathrm{exp.})$ GeV.
We have investigated the particle production and fragmentation of nuclei participating in the interactions of 10.6 GeV/n gold nuclei in nuclear emulsions. A new criterion has been found to distinguish between the interactions of these gold nuclei with the light (H,C,N,O) and heavy (Ag, Br) target nuclei in the emulsion. This has allowed separate analyses of the multiplicity and pseudo-rapidity distributions of the singly charged particles emitted in Au-(H,C,N,O) and Au-(Ag,Br) interactions, as well as of the modes of breakup of the projectile and target nuclei. The pseudo-rapidity distributions show strong forward asymmetries, particularly for the interactions with the light nuclei. Heavy target nuclei produce a more severe breakup of the projectile gold nucleus than do the lighter targets. A negative correlation between the number of fragments emitted from the target nuclei and the degree of centrality of the collisions has been observed, which can be attributed to the total destruction of the relatively light target nuclei by these very heavy projectile nuclei.
Three rare decay processes of the Higgs boson to a $\rho$(770)$^0$, $\phi$(1020), or K$^{*}$(892)$^0$ meson and a photon are searched for using $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Events are selected assuming the mesons decay into a pair of charged pions, a pair of charged kaons, or a charged kaon and pion, respectively. Depending on the Higgs boson production mode, different triggering and reconstruction techniques are adopted. The analyzed data sets correspond to integrated luminosities up to 138 fb$^{-1}$, depending on the reconstructed final state. After combining various data sets and categories, no significant excess above the background expectations is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level on the Higgs boson branching fractions into $\rho$(770)$^0$$\gamma$, $\phi$(1020)$\gamma$, and K$^{*}$(892)$^0\gamma$ are determined to be 3.7 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$, 3.0 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$, and 3.0 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$, respectively. In case of the $\rho$(770)$^0$$\gamma$ and $\phi$(1020)$\gamma$ channels, these are the most stringent experimental limits to date.
A search for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) of Majorana or Dirac type using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV is presented. The data were collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with three charged leptons (electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying tau leptons) are selected, corresponding to HNL production in association with a charged lepton and decay of the HNL to two charged leptons and a standard model (SM) neutrino. The search is performed for HNL masses between 10 GeV and 1.5 TeV. No evidence for an HNL signal is observed in data. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are found for the squared coupling strength of the HNL to SM neutrinos, considering exclusive coupling of the HNL to a single SM neutrino generation, for both Majorana and Dirac HNLs. The limits exceed previously achieved experimental constraints for a wide range of HNL masses, and the limits on tau neutrino coupling scenarios with HNL masses above the W boson mass are presented for the first time.
Forum