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.

A search for new long-lived particles decaying to leptons is presented using proton-proton collisions produced by the LHC at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. Data used for the analysis were collected by the CMS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. Events are selected with an electron and a muon that have transverse impact parameter values between 0.02 cm and 2 cm. The search has been designed to be sensitive to a wide range of models with nonprompt e-mu final states. Limits are set on the "displaced supersymmetry" model, with pair production of top squarks decaying into an e-mu final state via R-parity-violating interactions. The results are the most restrictive to date on this model, with the most stringent limit being obtained for a top squark lifetime corresponding to c tau = 2 cm, excluding masses below 790 GeV at 95% confidence level.

A search for an exotic decay of the Higgs boson to a Z boson and a light pseudoscalar particle (a), decaying to a pair of leptons and a pair of photons, respectively, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis probes pseudoscalar masses $m_\mathrm{a}$ between 1 and 30 GeV, leading to two pairs of well-isolated leptons and photons. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the Higgs boson production cross section times its branching fraction to two leptons and two photons. The observed (expected) limits are in the range of 1.1-17.8 (1.7-17.9) fb within the probed $m_\mathrm{a}$ interval. An excess of data above the expected standard model background with a local (global) significance of 2.6 (1.3) standard deviations is observed for a mass hypothesis of $m_\mathrm{a}$ = 3 GeV. Limits on models involving axion-like particles, formulated as an effective field theory, are also reported.

The polarizations of prompt and non-prompt J$/\psi$ and $\psi$(2S) mesons are measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, using data samples collected by the CMS experiment in 2017 and 2018, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 103.3 fb$^{-1}$. Based on the analysis of the dimuon decay angular distributions in the helicity frame, the polar anisotropy, $\lambda_\theta$, is measured as a function of the transverse momentum, $p_\mathrm{T}$, of the charmonium states, in the 25-120 and 20-100 GeV ranges for the J$/\psi$ and $\psi$(2S), respectively. The non-prompt polarizations agree with predictions based on the hypothesis that, for $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gtrsim$ 25 GeV, the non-prompt J$/\psi$ and $\psi$(2S) are predominantly produced in two-body B meson decays. The prompt results clearly exclude strong transverse polarizations, even for $p_\mathrm{T}$ exceeding 30 times the J$/\psi$ mass, where $\lambda_\theta$ tends to an asymptotic value around 0.3. Taken together with previous measurements, by CMS and LHCb at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV, the prompt polarizations show a significant variation with $p_\mathrm{T}$, at low $p_\mathrm{T}$.

A search for Higgs boson pair (HH) production with one Higgs boson decaying to two bottom quarks and the other to two W bosons are presented. The search is done using proton-proton collisions data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC from 2016 to 2018. The final states considered include at least one leptonically decaying W boson. No evidence for the presence of a signal is observed and corresponding upper limits on the HH production cross section are derived. The limit on the inclusive cross section of the nonresonant HH production, assuming that the distributions of kinematic observables are as expected in the standard model (SM), is observed (expected) to be 14 (18) times the value predicted by the SM, at 95% confidence level. The limits on the cross section are also presented as functions of various Higgs boson coupling modifiers, and anomalous Higgs boson coupling scenarios. In addition, limits are set on the resonant HH production via spin-0 and spin-2 resonances within the mass range 250-900 GeV.

The first observation of the concurrent production of two J/$\psi$ mesons in proton-nucleus collisions is presented. The analysis is based on a proton-lead (pPb) data sample recorded at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 174.6 nb$^{-1}$. The two J/$\psi$ mesons are reconstructed in their $\mu^+\mu^-$ decay channels with transverse momenta $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 6.5 GeV and rapidity $\lvert y \rvert$$\lt$ 2.4. Events where one of the J/$\psi$ mesons is reconstructed in the dielectron channel are also considered in the search. The pPb $\to$ J/$\psi$J/$\psi$ + X process is observed with a significance of 5.3 standard deviations. The measured inclusive fiducial cross section, using the four-muon channel alone, is $\sigma$(pPb $\to$ J/$\psi$J/$\psi$ + X) = 22.0 $\pm$ 8.9 (stat) $\pm$ 1.5 (syst) nb. A fit of the data to the expected rapidity separation for pairs of J/$\psi$ mesons produced in single (SPS) and double (DPS) parton scatterings yields $\sigma^{\mathrm{pPb} \to \mathrm{J}/\psi\mathrm{J}/\psi +\mathrm{X}}_\text{SPS}$ = 16.5 $\pm$ 10.8 (stat) $\pm$ 0.1 (syst) nb and $\sigma^{\mathrm{pPb} \to \mathrm{J}/\psi\mathrm{J}/\psi + \mathrm{X}}_\text{DPS}$ = 5.4 $\pm$ 6.2 (stat) $\pm$ 0.4 (syst) nb, respectively. This latter result can be transformed into a lower bound on the effective DPS cross section, closely related to the squared average interparton transverse separation in the collision, of $\sigma_\text{eff}$$\gt$ 1.0 mb at 95% confidence level.

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.

Diboson production in association with jets is studied in the fully leptonic final states, pp $\to$ (Z$\gamma^*$)(Z/$\gamma^*$) + jets $\to$ 2$\ell$2$\ell'$ + jets, ($\ell,\ell'$ = e or $\mu$) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Differential distributions and normalized differential cross sections are measured as a function of jet multiplicity, transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$, pseudorapidity $\eta$, invariant mass and $\Delta\eta$ of the highest-$p_\mathrm{T}$ and second-highest-$p_\mathrm{T}$ jets, and as a function of invariant mass of the four-lepton system for events with various jet multiplicities. These differential cross sections are compared with theoretical predictions that mostly agree with the experimental data. However, in a few regions we observe discrepancies between the predicted and measured values. Further improvement of the predictions is required to describe the ZZ + jets production in the whole phase space.

A search for a pair of light pseudoscalar bosons (a$_1$) produced in the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson is presented. The analysis examines decay modes where one a$_1$ decays into a pair of tau leptons and the other decays into either another pair of tau leptons or a pair of muons. The a$_1$ boson mass probed in this study ranges from 4 to 15 GeV. The data sample was recorded by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. No excess above standard model (SM) expectations is observed. The study combines the 4$τ$ and 2$μ$2$τ$ channels to set upper limits at 95% confidence level (CL) on the product of the Higgs boson production cross section and the branching fraction to the 4$τ$ final state, relative to the Higgs boson production cross section predicted by the SM. In this interpretation, the a$_1$ boson is assumed to have Yukawa-like couplings to fermions, with coupling strengths proportional to the respective fermion masses. The observed (expected) upper limits range between 0.007 (0.011) and 0.079 (0.066) across the mass range considered. The results are also interpreted in the context of models with two Higgs doublets and an additional complex singlet field (2HD+S). The tightest constraints are obtained for the Type III 2HD+S model. In this case, assuming the Higgs boson production cross section equals the SM prediction, values of the branching ratio for the Higgs boson decay into a pair of a$_1$ bosons exceeding 16% are excluded at 95% CL for a$_1$ boson masses between 5 and 15 GeV and $\tanβ$ $\gt$ 2, with the exception of scenarios in which the a$_1$ boson mixes with charm or bottom quark-antiquark bound states.

A test of lepton flavor universality in B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}\mu^+\mu^-$ and B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}$e$^+$e$^-$ decays, as well as a measurement of differential and integrated branching fractions of a nonresonant B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}\mu^+\mu^-$ decay are presented. The analysis is made possible by a dedicated data set of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded in 2018, by the CMS experiment at the LHC, using a special high-rate data stream designed for collecting about 10 billion unbiased b hadron decays. The ratio of the branching fractions $\mathcal{B}$(B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}\mu^+\mu^-$) to $\mathcal{B}$(B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}$e$^+$e$^-$) is determined from the measured double ratio $R$(K) of these decays to the respective branching fractions of the B$^\pm$$\to$ J/$\psi$K$^\pm$ with J/$\psi$$\to$$\mu^+\mu^-$ and e$^+$e$^-$ decays, which allow for significant cancellation of systematic uncertainties. The ratio $R$(K) is measured in the range 1.1 $\lt$$q^2$$\lt$ 6.0 GeV$^2$, where $q$ is the invariant mass of the lepton pair, and is found to be $R$(K) = 0.78 $^{+0.47}_{-0.23}$, in agreement with the standard model expectation $R$(K) $\approx$ 1. This measurement is limited by the statistical precision of the electron channel. The integrated branching fraction in the same $q^2$ range, $\mathcal{B}$(B$^{\pm}$$\to$ K$^{\pm}\mu^+\mu^-$) = (12.42 $\pm$ 0.68) $\times$ 10$^{-8}$, is consistent with the present world-average value and has a comparable precision.