We have measured the total inelastic cross section (σinel) and charged-particle multiplicities obtained in pp collisions at 405 GeV/c. The data are from a preliminary 12 000-picture bubble-chamber exposure. We find σinel=32.8±1.0 mb; the low moments of the multiplicity distribution for negative particles are 〈n−〉=3.50±0.07, D−=2.37±0.05, f2−=2.1±0.2, and f3−=0.1±0.9. We also present updated results at 102 GeV/c.
A dedicated sample of Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV is used to study inclusive single diffractive dissociation, $pp \rightarrow Xp$. The intact final-state proton is reconstructed in the ATLAS ALFA forward spectrometer, while charged particles from the dissociated system $X$ are measured in the central detector components. The fiducial range of the measurement is $-4.0 < \log_{10} \xi < -1.6$ and $0.016 < |t| < 0.43 \ {\rm GeV^2}$, where $\xi$ is the proton fractional energy loss and $t$ is the squared four-momentum transfer. The total cross section integrated across the fiducial range is $1.59 \pm 0.13 \ {\rm mb}$. Cross sections are also measured differentially as functions of $\xi$, $t$, and $\Delta \eta$, a variable that characterises the rapidity gap separating the proton and the system $X$. The data are consistent with an exponential $t$ dependence, ${\rm d} \sigma / {\rm d} t \propto \text{e}^{Bt}$ with slope parameter $B = 7.65 \pm 0.34 \ {\rm GeV^{-2}}$. Interpreted in the framework of triple Regge phenomenology, the $\xi$ dependence leads to a pomeron intercept of $\alpha(0) = 1.07 \pm 0.09$.
The inclusive jet cross section is measured as a function of jet transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity $y$. The measurement is performed using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$. The jets are reconstructed with the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm using a distance parameter of $R$ = 0.4, within the rapidity interval $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2, and across the kinematic range 0.06 $\lt$$p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 1 TeV. The jet cross section is unfolded from detector to particle level using the determined jet response and resolution. The results are compared to predictions of perturbative quantum chromodynamics, calculated at both next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order. The predictions are corrected for nonperturbative effects, and presented for a variety of parton distribution functions and choices of the renormalization / factorization scales and the strong coupling $\alpha_\mathrm{S}$.
A search for the violation of the charge-parity ($CP$) symmetry in the production of top quarks in association with Z bosons is presented, using events with at least three charged leptons and additional jets. The search is performed in a sample of proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and in 2022 at 13.6 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 173 fb$^{-1}$. For the first time in this final state, observables that are odd under the $CP$ transformation are employed. Also for the first time, physics-informed machine-learning techniques are used to construct these observables. While for standard model (SM) processes the distributions of these observables are predicted to be symmetric around zero, $CP$-violating modifications of the SM would introduce asymmetries. Two $CP$-odd operators $\mathcal{O}_\text{tW}^\text{I}$ and $\mathcal{O}_\text{tZ}^\text{I}$ in the SM effective field theory are considered that may modify the interactions between top quarks and electroweak bosons. The obtained results are consistent with the SM prediction within two standard deviations, and exclusion limits on the associated Wilson coefficients of $-$2.7 $\lt$$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.
An inclusive search for long-lived exotic particles decaying to a pair of muons is presented. The search uses data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV in 2016 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 97.6 fb$^{-1}$. The experimental signature is a pair of oppositely charged muons originating from a common secondary vertex spatially separated from the pp interaction point by distances ranging from several hundred $\mu$m to several meters. The results are interpreted in the frameworks of the hidden Abelian Higgs model, in which the Higgs boson decays to a pair of long-lived dark photons Z$_\mathrm{D}$, and of a simplified model, in which long-lived particles are produced in decays of an exotic heavy neutral scalar boson. For the hidden Abelian Higgs model with $m_\mathrm{Z_D}$ greater than 20 GeV and less than half the mass of the Higgs boson, they provide the best limits to date on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to dark photons for $c\tau$(Z$_\mathrm{D}$) (varying with $m_\mathrm{Z_D}$) between 0.03 and ${\approx}$ 0.5 mm, and above ${\approx}$ 0.5 m. Our results also yield the best constraints on long-lived particles with masses larger than 10 GeV produced in decays of an exotic scalar boson heavier than the Higgs boson and decaying to a pair of muons.
We report a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry, $A_{FB}$, in $b\bar{b}$ pairs produced in proton-antiproton collisions and identified by muons from semileptonic $b$-hadron decays. The event sample was collected at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV with the CDF II detector and corresponds to 6.9 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. We obtain an integrated asymmetry of $A_{FB}(b\bar{b})=(1.2 \pm 0.7)$\% at the particle level for $b$-quark pairs with invariant mass, $m_{b\bar{b}}$, down to $40$ GeV/$c^2$ and measure the dependence of $A_{FB}(b\bar{b})$ on $m_{b\bar{b}}$. The results are compatible with expectations from the standard model.
The measurement of the charge asymmetry in top quark pair events with highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks decaying to a single lepton and jets is presented. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The selection is optimized for top quarks produced with large Lorentz boosts, resulting in nonisolated leptons and overlapping jets. The top quark charge asymmetry is measured for events with a $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ invariant mass larger than 750 GeV and corrected for detector and acceptance effects using a binned maximum likelihood fit. The measured top quark charge asymmetry of (0.42 $_{-0.69}^{+0.64}$)% is in good agreement with the standard model prediction at next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamic perturbation theory with next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections. The result is also presented for two invariant mass ranges, 750-900 and $\gt$ 900 GeV.
We present a measurement of the differential shapes of exclusive $B\to D^* \ell \bar{\nu}_\ell$ ($B = B^-, \bar{B}^0 $ and $\ell = e, \mu$) decays with hadronic tag-side reconstruction for the full Belle data set of $711\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. We extract the Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert (CLN) and Boyd-Grinstein-Lebed (BGL) form factor parameters and use an external input for the absolute branching fractions to determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element and find $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{CLN} = (40.1\pm0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ and $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{BGL} = (40.6\pm 0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ with the zero-recoil lattice QCD point $\mathcal{F}(1) = 0.906 \pm 0.013$. We also perform a study of the impact of preliminary beyond zero-recoil lattice QCD calculations on the $|V_{cb}|$ determinations. Additionally, we present the lepton flavor universality ratio $R_{e\mu} = \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* e \bar{\nu}_e) / \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* \mu \bar{\nu}_\mu) = 0.990 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.023$, the electron and muon forward-backward asymmetry and their difference $\Delta A_{FB}=0.022\pm0.026\pm 0.007$, and the electron and muon $D^*$ longitudinal polarization fraction and their difference $\Delta F_L^{D^*} = 0.034 \pm 0.024 \pm 0.007$. The uncertainties quoted correspond to the statistical and systematic uncertainties, respectively.
The azimuthal anisotropy of $\Upsilon$(1S) mesons in high-multiplicity proton-lead collisions is studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV. The $\Upsilon$(1S) mesons are reconstructed using their dimuon decay channel. The anisotropy is characterized by the second Fourier harmonic coefficients, found using a two-particle correlation technique, in which the $\Upsilon$(1S) mesons are correlated with charged hadrons. A large pseudorapidity gap is used to suppress short-range correlations. Nonflow contamination from the dijet background is removed using a low-multiplicity subtraction method, and the results are presented as a function of $\Upsilon$(1S) transverse momentum. The azimuthal anisotropies are smaller than those found for charmonia in proton-lead collisions at the same collision energy, but are consistent with values found for $\Upsilon$(1S) mesons in lead-lead interactions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV.
The path-length dependent parton energy loss within the dense partonic medium created in lead-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV is studied by determining the azimuthal anisotropies for dijets with high transverse momentum. The data were collected by the CMS experiment in 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.69 nb$^{-1}$. For events containing back-to-back jets, correlations in relative azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity ($\eta$) between jets and hadrons, and between two hadrons, are constructed. The anisotropies are expressed as the Fourier expansion coefficients $v_n$, $n = $ 2-4 of these azimuthal distributions. The dijet $v_n$ values are extracted from long-range (1.5 $\lt$$\vert\Delta\eta\vert$$\lt$ 2.5) components of these correlations, which suppresses the background contributions from jet fragmentation processes. Positive dijet $v_2$ values are observed which increase from central to more peripheral events, while the $v_3$ and $v_4$ values are consistent with zero within experimental uncertainties.
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