A search for events with one displaced vertex from long-lived particles using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented, using 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV recorded in 2015-2018. The search employs techniques for reconstructing vertices of long-lived particles decaying into hadronic jets in the muon spectrometer displaced between 3 m and 14 m from the primary interaction vertex. The observed number of events is consistent with the expected background and limits for several benchmark signals are determined. A scalar-portal model and a Higgs-boson-portal baryogenesis model are considered. A dedicated analysis channel is employed to target Z-boson associated long-lived particle production, including an axion-like particle and a dark photon model. For the Higgs boson model, branching fractions above 1% are excluded at 95% confidence level for long-lived particle proper decay lengths ranging from 5 cm to 40 m. For the photo-phobic axion-like particle model considered, this search produces the strongest limits to date for proper decay lengths greater than $\mathcal{O}(10)$ cm.
Results are presented from a search for new physics in high-mass diphoton events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The data set was collected in 2016-2018 with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with a diphoton invariant mass greater than 500 GeV are considered. Two different techniques are used to predict the standard model backgrounds: parametric fits to the smoothly-falling background and a first-principles calculation of the standard model diphoton spectrum at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations. The first technique is sensitive to resonant excesses while the second technique can identify broad differences in the invariant mass shape. The data are used to constrain the production of heavy Higgs bosons, Randall-Sundrum gravitons, the large extra dimensions model of Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali (ADD), and the continuum clockwork mechanism. No statistically significant excess is observed. The present results are the strongest limits to date on ADD extra dimensions and RS gravitons with a coupling parameter greater than 0.1.
A search is presented for a third-generation leptoquark (LQ) coupled exclusively to a $\tau$ lepton and a b quark. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with $\tau$ leptons and a varying number of jets originating from b quarks are considered, targeting the single and pair production of LQs, as well as nonresonant $t$-channel LQ exchange. An excess is observed in the data with respect to the background expectation in the combined analysis of all search regions. For a benchmark LQ mass of 2 TeV and an LQ-b-$\tau$ coupling strength of 2.5, the excess reaches a local significance of up to 2.8 standard deviations. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are placed on the LQ production cross section in the LQ mass range 0.5-2.3 TeV, and up to 3 TeV for $t$-channel LQ exchange. Leptoquarks are excluded below masses of 1.22-1.88 TeV for different LQ models and varying coupling strengths up to 2.5. The study of nonresonant $\tau\tau$ production through $t$-channel LQ exchange allows lower limits on the LQ mass of up to 2.3 TeV to be obtained.
A search is presented for the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson (H) to a pair of new light pseudoscalar bosons (a), followed by the prompt decay of each a boson to a bottom quark-antiquark pair, H $\to$ aa $\to$$\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}}$. The analysis is performed using a data sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. To reduce the background from standard model processes, the search requires the Higgs boson to be produced in association with a leptonically decaying W or Z boson. The analysis probes the production of new light bosons in a 15 $\lt$$m_\mathrm{a}$$\lt$ 60 GeV mass range. Assuming the standard model predictions for the Higgs boson production cross sections for pp $\to$ WH and ZH, model independent upper limits at 95% confidence level are derived for the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ aa $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}}$). The combined WH and ZH observed upper limit on the branching fraction ranges from 1.10 for $m_\mathrm{a} =$ 20 GeV to 0.36 for $m_\mathrm{a} =$ 60 GeV, complementing other measurements in the $\mu\mu\tau\tau$, $\tau\tau\tau\tau$ and bb$\ell\ell$ ($\ell = $ $\mu$, $\tau$) channels.
The polarization of $\tau$ leptons is measured using leptonic and hadronic $\tau$ lepton decays in Z $\to$$\tau^+\tau^-$ events in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by CMS at the CERN LHC with an integrated luminosity of 36.3 fb$^{-1}$. The measured $\tau^-$ polarization at the Z boson mass pole is $\mathcal{P}_{\tau}$(Z) = $-$0.144 $\pm$ 0.006 (stat) $\pm$ 0.014 (syst) = $-$0.144 $\pm$ 0.015, in good agreement with the measurement of the $\tau$ lepton asymmetry parameter of $A_{\tau}$ = 0.1439 $\pm$ 0.0043 = $-\mathcal{P}_{\tau}$(Z) at LEP. The $\tau$ polarization depends on the ratio of the vector to axial-vector couplings of the $\tau$ leptons in the neutral current expression, and thus on the effective weak mixing angle $\sin^{2}\theta_\mathrm{W}^{\text{eff}}$, independently of the Z boson production mechanism. The obtained value $\sin^{2}\theta_\mathrm{W}^{\text{eff}}$ = 0.2319 $\pm$ 0.0008 (stat) $\pm$ 0.0018 (syst) = 0.2319 $\pm$ 0.0019 is in good agreement with measurements at e$^+$e$^-$ colliders.
A search is described for the production of a pair of bottom-type vector-like quarks (B VLQs) with mass greater than 1000 GeV. Each B VLQ decays into a b quark and a Higgs boson, a b quark and a Z boson, or a t quark and a W boson. This analysis considers both fully hadronic final states and those containing a charged lepton pair from a Z boson decay. The products of the H $\to$ bb boson decay and of the hadronic Z or W boson decays can be resolved as two distinct jets or merged into a single jet, so the final states are classified by the number of reconstructed jets. The analysis uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC from 2016 to 2018. No excess over the expected background is observed. Lower limits are set on the B VLQ mass at 95% confidence level. These depend on the B VLQ branching fractions and are 1570 and 1540 GeV for 100% B $\to$ bH and 100% B $\to$ bZ, respectively. In most cases, the mass limits obtained exceed previous limits by at least 100 GeV.
A combination of the results of several searches for the electroweak production of the supersymmetric partners of standard model bosons, and of charged leptons, is presented. All searches use proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016-2018. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of up to 137 fb$^{-1}$. The results are interpreted in terms of simplified models of supersymmetry. Two new interpretations are added with this combination: a model spectrum with the bino as the lightest supersymmetric particle together with mass-degenerate higgsinos decaying to the bino and a standard model boson, and the compressed-spectrum region of a previously studied model of slepton pair production. Improved analysis techniques are employed to optimize sensitivity for the compressed spectra in the wino and slepton pair production models. The results are consistent with expectations from the standard model. The combination provides a more comprehensive coverage of the model parameter space than the individual searches, extending the exclusion by up to 125 GeV, and also targets some of the intermediate gaps in the mass coverage.
A search for new physics in final states consisting of at least one photon, multiple jets, and large missing transverse momentum is presented, using proton-proton collision events at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC from 2016 to 2018. The events are divided into mutually exclusive bins characterized by the missing transverse momentum, the number of jets, the number of b-tagged jets, and jets consistent with the presence of hadronically decaying W, Z, or Higgs bosons. The observed data are found to be consistent with the prediction from standard model processes. The results are interpreted in the context of simplified models of pair production of supersymmetric particles via strong and electroweak interactions. Depending on the details of the signal models, gluinos and squarks of masses up to 2.35 and 1.43 TeV, respectively, and electroweakinos of masses up to 1.23 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.
A precise measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ from threshold to an energy of 3GeV is obtained with the initial-state radiation (ISR) method using 232fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 10.6GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process $e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^-(\gamma)\gamma_{\rm ISR}$, which is found to agree with the next-to-leading-order QED prediction to within 1.1%. The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ is obtained with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5% in the dominant $\rho$ resonance region. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the measured $\pi\pi$ cross section from threshold to 1.8GeV is $(514.1 \pm 2.2({\rm stat}) \pm 3.1({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-10}$.
For the first time at LHC energies, the forward rapidity gap spectra from proton-lead collisions for both proton and lead dissociation processes are presented. The analysis is performed over 10.4 units of pseudorapidity at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV, almost 300 times higher than in previous measurements of diffractive production in proton-nucleus collisions. For lead dissociation processes, which correspond to the pomeron-lead event topology, the EPOS-LHC generator predictions are a factor of two below the data, but the model gives a reasonable description of the rapidity gap spectrum shape. For the pomeron-proton topology, the EPOS-LHC, QGSJET II, and HIJING predictions are all at least a factor of five lower than the data. The latter effect might be explained by a significant contribution of ultra-peripheral photoproduction events mimicking the signature of diffractive processes. These data may be of significant help in understanding the high energy limit of quantum chromodynamics and for modeling cosmic ray air showers.
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