Date

Stairway to discovery: a report on the CMS programme of cross section measurements from millibarns to femtobarns

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Rept. 1115 (2025) 3-115, 2025.
Inspire Record 2791238 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.152803

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, delivering proton-proton collisions at much higher energies and far higher luminosities than previous machines, has enabled a comprehensive programme of measurements of the standard model (SM) processes by the CMS experiment. These unprecedented capabilities facilitate precise measurements of the properties of a wide array of processes, the most fundamental being cross sections. The discovery of the Higgs boson and the measurement of its mass became the keystone of the SM. Knowledge of the mass of the Higgs boson allows precision comparisons of the predictions of the SM with the corresponding measurements. These measurements span the range from one of the most copious SM processes, the total inelastic cross section for proton-proton interactions, to the rarest ones, such as Higgs boson pair production. They cover the production of Higgs bosons, top quarks, single and multibosons, and hadronic jets. Associated parameters, such as coupling constants, are also measured. These cross section measurements can be pictured as a descending stairway, on which the lowest steps represent the rarest processes allowed by the SM, some never seen before.

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Cross sections of selected high-energy processes measured by the CMS experiment. Measurements performed at different LHC pp collision energies are marked by unique symbols and the coloured bands indicate the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty of the measurement. Grey bands indicate the uncertainty of the corresponding SM theory predictions. Shaded hashed bars indicate the excluded cross section region for a production process with the measured 95% CL upper limit on the process indicated by the solid line of the same colour.

Summary of production cross section measurements involving top quarks. Measurements performed at different LHC pp collision energies are marked by unique symbols and the coloured bands indicate the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty of the measurement. Grey bands indicate the uncertainty of the corresponding SM theory predictions. Shaded hashed bars indicate the excluded cross section region for a production process with the measured 95% C.L. upper limit on the process indicated by the solid line of the same colour.

Summary of measurements of jet cross sections and electroweak processes in association with jets. Measurements performed at different LHC pp collision energies are marked by unique symbols and the coloured bands indicate the combined statistical and systematic uncertainty of the measurement. Grey bands indicate the uncertainty of the corresponding SM theory predictions. Shaded hashed bars indicate the excluded cross section region for a production process with the measured 95% C.L. upper limit on the process indicated by the solid line of the same colour. Versions of these plots in pdf format with links to the publications can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/SMP-23-004/.


Search for a standard model-like Higgs boson in the mass range between 70 and 110 GeV in the diphoton final state in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 860 (2025) 139067, 2025.
Inspire Record 2791038 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.150508

The results of a search for a standard model-like Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range between 70 and 110 GeV are presented. The analysis uses the data set collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV corresponding to integrated luminosities of 36.3 fb$^{-1}$, 41.5 fb$^{-1}$ and 54.4 fb$^{-1}$ during the 2016, 2017, and 2018 LHC running periods, respectively. No significant excess over the background expectation is observed and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for decays of an additional Higgs boson into two photons. The maximum deviation with respect to the background is seen for a mass hypothesis of 95.4 GeV with a local (global) significance of 2.9 (1.3) standard deviations. The observed upper limit ranges from 15 to 73 fb.

6 data tables

Expected and observed exclusion limits at 95% CL in the asymptotic approximation, on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction into two photons for an additional SM-like Higgs boson,from the analysis of the combined data from 2016, 2017, and 2018. The limit is shown relative to the expected SM-like value

Expected and observed exclusion limits at 95% CL in the asymptotic approximation, on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction into two photons for an additional SM-like Higgs boson,from the analysis of the combined data from 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Expected and observed exclusion limits at 95% CL in the asymptotic approximation, on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction into two photons for an additional SM-like Higgs boson, for the ggH plus ttH processes, from the analysis of the combined data from 2016, 2017, and 2018.

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Study of WH production through vector boson scattering and extraction of the relative sign of the W and Z couplings to the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 860 (2025) 139202, 2025.
Inspire Record 2790366 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.151278

A search for the production of a W boson and a Higgs boson through vector boson scattering (VBS) is presented, using CMS data from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected from 2016 to 2018. The integrated luminosity of the data sample is 138 fb$^{-1}$. Selected events must be consistent with the presence of two jets originating from VBS, the leptonic decay of the W boson to an electron or muon, possibly also through an intermediate $\tau$ lepton, and a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b quarks, reconstructed as either a single merged jet or two resolved jets. A measurement of the process as predicted by the standard model (SM) is performed alongside a study of beyond-the-SM (BSM) scenarios. The SM analysis sets an observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit of 14.3 (9.9) on the ratio of the measured VBS WH cross section to that expected by the SM. The BSM analysis, conducted within the so-called $\kappa$ framework, excludes all scenarios with $\lambda_\mathrm{WZ}$ $\lt$ 0 that are consistent with current measurements, where $\lambda_\mathrm{WZ}$ = $\kappa_\mathrm{W} / \kappa_\mathrm{Z}$ and $\kappa_\mathrm{W}$ and $\kappa_\mathrm{Z}$ are the HWW and HZZ coupling modifiers, respectively. The signficance of the exclusion is beyond 5 standard deviations, and it is consistent with the SM expectation of $\lambda_\mathrm{WZ}$ = 1.

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The exclusion significance in the BSM analysis with $\kappa_W = -1$, $\kappa_Z = +1$ plotted as a function of the signal strength

The exclusion significance of signal strength = 1 in the BSM analysis plotted as a function of $\kappa_W$ and $\kappa_Z$.

Histogram of the background predicted from simulation in regions B, C, D, background estimated from data in region A, and data in regions A, B, C, and D. "Estimated Bkg." is the background estimated from data via ABCD in the signal region, so there is no yield in regions B, C, or D for that column. "SM Bkg." is the background estimated from MC, so it is not plotted in region A to avoid confusion about where the background estimate comes from.

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Search for $CP$ violation in D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ decays in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 84 (2024) 1264, 2024.
Inspire Record 2788405 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.147012

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.

2 data tables

The measured $CP$ asymmetry in $D^{0} \to K^{0}_{S} K^{0}_{S}$

The measured difference in the $CP$ asymmetries between $D^{0} \to K^{0}_{S} K^{0}_{S}$ and $D^{0} \to K^{0}_{S}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$


Search for new physics in high-mass diphoton events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
JHEP 08 (2024) 215, 2024.
Inspire Record 2787227 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.150677

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.

16 data tables

The product of the event selection efficiency (e) and the detector acceptance (A) is shown as a function of the signal resonance mass mX for the narrow signal width hypothesis ($\Gamma_{X}/m_{X} = 1.4 x 10^{4}$ for J = 0 and $~k = 0.01$ for J = 2). The total (black), EBEB (red), and EBEE (blue) curves are shown for spin (J) hypotheses J = 0 (solid) and J = 2 (dashed).

Figure 2: Observed diphoton invariant mass spectra for the EBEB category for the full Run 2 data set are shown. Also shown are the results of a likelihood fit to the background-only hypothesis. The black, red, green and blue lines indicate the result of the fit functions f1, f2, f3, and f4, respectively. The lower panels show the difference between the data and f1 fit, divided by the statistical uncertainty in the data points. dijet f1 = 0.13116092* pow(x,5.7466302555276645-0.7807885712668643*log(x)), expow1 f2 = 7.3165496e+10*exp(-0.0016273075*x)*pow(x, -1*1.8233539*1.8233539), invpow1 f3 = 8760.6423*(pow(1+x*0.0022831415,-1.*2.7013689*2.7013689)), invpowlin1 f4 = 2124447.3*(pow(1+0.029456453*x,-3.8645171-0.00027603566*x)).

Figure 2: Observed diphoton invariant mass spectra for the EBEE category for the full Run 2 data set are shown. Also shown are the results of a likelihood fit to the background-only hypothesis. The black, red, green and blue lines indicate the result of the fit functions f1, f2, f3, and f4, respectively. The lower panels show the difference between the data and f1 fit, divided by the statistical uncertainty in the data points. dijet f1 = 1.81866e-22*pow(x,19.5547-1.7634*log(x)), expow1 f2 = 69750*exp(-0.00368224*x)*pow(x, -1.*0.975269*0.975269, invpow1 f3 = 508.838*pow(1+x*0.000294278,-1.*4.5514*4.5514), invpowlin1 f4 = 470.588*pow(1+x* 5.07338e-05,-114.601+0.00817169*x)

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Girth and groomed radius of jets recoiling against isolated photons in lead-lead and proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 861 (2025) 139088, 2025.
Inspire Record 2783507 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.151507

This Letter presents the first measurements of the groomed jet radius $R_\mathrm{g}$ and the jet girth $g$ in events with an isolated photon recoiling against a jet in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at the LHC at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The observables $R_\mathrm{g}$ and $g$ provide a quantitative measure of how narrow or broad a jet is. The analysis uses PbPb and pp data samples with integrated luminosities of 1.7 nb$^{-1}$ and 301 pb$^{-1}$, respectively, collected with the CMS experiment in 2018 and 2017. Events are required to have a photon with transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$$>$ 100 GeV and at least one jet back-to-back in azimuth with respect to the photon and with transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet}$ such that $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet} / p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$$>$ 0.4. The measured $R_\mathrm{g}$ and $g$ distributions are unfolded to the particle level, which facilitates the comparison between the PbPb and pp results and with theoretical predictions. It is found that jets with $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet} / p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$$>$ 0.8, i.e., those that closely balance the photon $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$, are narrower in PbPb than in pp collisions. Relaxing the selection to include jets with $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet} / p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$$>$ 0.4 reduces the narrowing of the angular structure of jets in PbPb relative to the pp reference. This shows that selection bias effects associated with jet energy loss play an important role in the interpretation of jet substructure measurements.

28 data tables

Unfolded jet girth distribution in PbPb normalized to the number of jets that pass the $x_J$>0.4 selection. All systematic uncertainties are bin-to-bin fully correlated (allowing for sign-changes bin-to-bin).The covaraince matrices are provided for the statistical uncertainties from data and MC in this HepData record.

Covariance matrix of the statistical uncertainty in data for the unfolded jet girth distribution in PbPb for jets that pass the $x_J$>0.4 selection.The bin indices correspond to the bins used in the jet girth distribution.

Covariance matrix of the statistical uncertainty in MC for the unfolded jet girth distribution in PbPb for jets that pass the $x_J$>0.4 selection.The bin indices correspond to the bins used in the jet girth distribution.

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Search for new resonances decaying to pairs of merged diphotons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 134 (2025) 041801, 2025.
Inspire Record 2782841 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.146677

A search is presented for an extended Higgs sector with two new particles, X and $\phi$, in the process $X \to\phi\phi\to(\gamma\gamma)(\gamma\gamma)$. Novel neural networks classify events with diphotons that are merged and determine the diphoton masses. The search uses LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. No evidence of such resonances is seen. Upper limits are set on the production cross section for $m_X$ between 300 and 3000 GeV and $m_\phi / m_X$ between 0.5 and 2.5%, representing the most sensitive search in this channel.

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Observed differential $m_{\Gamma\Gamma}$ mass spectrum for $0.44 < \alpha < 0.49$%, where $\alpha = m_\phi/m_X$. The cross-section is calculated by dividing the event yield by the bin width and luminosity.

Observed differential $m_{\Gamma\Gamma}$ mass spectrum for 0.3$ < \alpha < $0.35%, where $\alpha = m_\phi/m_X$. The cross-section is calculated by dividing the event yield by the bin width and luminosity.

Observed differential $m_{\Gamma\Gamma}$ mass spectrum for 0.35$ < \alpha < $0.4%, where $\alpha = m_\phi/m_X$. The cross-section is calculated by dividing the event yield by the bin width and luminosity.

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Search for the Z boson decay to $\tau\tau\mu\mu$ in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 133 (2024) 161805, 2024.
Inspire Record 2781837 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.151336

The first search for the Z boson decay to $\tau\tau\mu\mu$ at the CERN LHC is presented, based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The data are compatible with the predicted background. For the first time, an upper limit at the 95% confidence level of 6.9 times the standard model expectation is placed on the ratio of the Z $\to$ $\tau\tau\mu\mu$ to Z $\to$ 4$\mu$ branching fractions. Limits are also placed on the six flavor-conserving four-lepton effective-field-theory operators involving two muons and two tau leptons, for the first time testing all such operators.

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Distribution of $m_{4\mu}$ after the maximum likelihood fit of the background-only model (stacked histograms) to the data (black points). The nuisance parameters are set to their post-fit values and the signal (black dotted line) is overlaid, scaled to the upper limit on its cross section of 6.9 times the SM expectation. The gray shaded areas in both panels correspond to the total uncertainty in the background prediction. The black vertical bars indicate the statistical uncertainty in the data.

Observed limits at the 95% CL on $C_{\mathrm{LL}}^{2233}$ vs. $C_{\mathrm{LR}}^{2332}$ (red) showing the full range.

Observed limits at the 95% CL on $C_{\mathrm{LR}}^{2233}$ vs. $C_{\mathrm{LL}}^{2332}$ (orange) showing the full range.

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Search for Higgs boson pair production with one associated vector boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
JHEP 10 (2024) 061, 2024.
Inspire Record 2776996 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.150032

A search for Higgs boson pair (HH) production in association with a vector boson V (W or Z boson) is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Both hadronic and leptonic decays of V bosons are used. The leptons considered are electrons, muons, and neutrinos. The HH production is searched for in the $\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}}$ decay channel. An observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level of VHH production cross section is set at 294 (124) times the standard model prediction. Constraints are also set on the modifiers of the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling, $\kappa_{\lambda}$, assuming $\kappa_{2\mathrm{V}}$ = 1 and vice versa on the coupling of two Higgs bosons with two vector bosons, $\kappa_{2\mathrm{V}}$. The observed (expected) 95% confidence intervals of these coupling modifiers are -37.7 $\lt$ $\kappa_{\lambda}$ $\lt$ 37.2 (-30.1 $\lt$ $\kappa_{\lambda}$ $\lt$ 28.9) and -12.2 $\lt$ $\kappa_{2\mathrm{V}}$ $\lt$ 13.5 (-7.2 $\lt$ $\kappa_{2\mathrm{V}}$ $\lt$ 8.9), respectively.

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The VHH cross section limits per channel and combined for SM value couplings.

The VHH cross section limits per channel and combined for $\kappa_{\lambda}$ = 5.5.

Upper 95% CL limits on VHH signal cross section scanned over the $\kappa_{\lambda}$ parameter while fixing the $\kappa_{2V}$ and $\kappa_{V}$ to their SM-predicted values.

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Measurement of differential ZZ + jets production cross sections in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
JHEP 10 (2024) 209, 2024.
Inspire Record 2773780 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.145862

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.

17 data tables

Differential cross sections normalized to the fiducial cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the four-lepton system, in the on-shell ZZ region

Differential cross sections normalized to the fiducial cross section as a function of the number of jets with $p_T > 30$ GeV

Differential cross sections normalized to the fiducial cross section as a function of the $p_T$ of the highest-$p_T$ jet

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