A search for pseudoscalar or scalar bosons decaying to a top quark pair ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) in final states with one or two charged leptons is presented. The analyzed proton-proton collision data was recorded at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The invariant mass $m_\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ of the reconstructed $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ system and variables sensitive to its spin and parity are used to discriminate against the standard model $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ background. Interference between pseudoscalar or scalar boson production and the standard model $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ continuum is included, leading to peak-dip structures in the $m_\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ distribution. An excess of the data above the background prediction, based on perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculations, is observed near the kinematic $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ production threshold, while good agreement is found for high $m_\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$. The data are consistent with the background prediction if the contribution from the production of a color-singlet ${}^1\mathrm{S}_0^{[1]}$$\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ quasi-bound state $η_\mathrm{t}$, predicted by nonrelativistic QCD, is added. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the coupling between the pseudoscalar or scalar bosons and the top quark for boson masses in the range 365$-$1000 GeV, relative widths between 0.5 and 25%, and two background scenarios with or without $η_\mathrm{t}$ contribution.

The traditional quark model accounts for the existence of baryons, such as protons and neutrons, which consist of three quarks, as well as mesons, composed of a quark-antiquark pair. Only recently has substantial evidence started to accumulate for exotic states composed of four or five quarks and antiquarks. The exact nature of their internal structure remains uncertain. This paper reports the first measurement of quantum numbers of the recently discovered family of three all-charm tetraquarks, using data collected by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider from 2016 to 2018. The angular analysis techniques developed for the discovery and characterization of the Higgs boson have been applied to the new exotic states. Here we show that the quantum numbers for parity $P$ and charge conjugation $C$ symmetries are found to be +1. The spin $J$ of these exotic states is consistent with 2$\hbar$, while 0$\hbar$ and 1$\hbar$ are excluded at 95% and 99% confidence level, respectively. The $J^{PC} = 2^{++}$ assignment implies particular configurations of constituent spins and orbital angular momenta, which constrain the possible internal structure of these tetraquarks.

A search for the resonant production of a heavy scalar $X$ decaying into a Higgs boson and a new lighter scalar $S$, through the process $X \to S(\to bb) H(\to \gamma\gamma)$, where the two photons are consistent with the Higgs boson decay, is performed. The search is conducted using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed over the mass range 170 $\leq$$m_{X}$$\leq$ 1000 GeV and 15 $\leq$$m_{S}$$\leq$ 500 GeV. Parameterised neural networks are used to enhance the signal purity and to achieve continuous sensitivity in a domain of the ($m_{X}$, $m_{S}$) plane. No significant excess above the expected background is found and 95% CL upper limits are set on the cross section times branching ratio, ranging from 39 fb to 0.09 fb. The largest deviation from the background-only expectation occurs for ($m_{X}$, $m_{S}$) = (575, 200) GeV with a local (global) significance of 3.5 (2.0) standard deviations.

This paper presents a search for a new $Z^\prime$ resonance decaying into a pair of dark quarks which hadronise into dark hadrons before promptly decaying back as Standard Model particles. This analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. After selecting events containing large-radius jets with high track multiplicity, the invariant mass distribution of the two highest-transverse-momentum jets is scanned to look for an excess above a data-driven estimate of the Standard Model multijet background. No significant excess of events is observed and the results are thus used to set 95 % confidence-level upper limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio of the $Z^\prime$ to dark quarks as a function of the $Z^\prime$ mass for various dark-quark scenarios.

The observation of the production of four top quarks in proton-proton collisions is reported, based on a data sample collected by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016-2018 at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with two same-sign, three, or four charged leptons (electrons and muons) and additional jets are analyzed. Compared to previous results in these channels, updated identification techniques for charged leptons and jets originating from the hadronization of b quarks, as well as a revised multivariate analysis strategy to distinguish the signal process from the main backgrounds, lead to an improved expected signal significance of 4.9 standard deviations above the background-only hypothesis. Four top quark production is observed with a significance of 5.6 standard deviations, and its cross section is measured to be 17.7 $^{+3.7}_{-3.5}$ (stat) $^{+2.3}_{-1.9}$ (syst) fb, in agreement with the available standard model predictions.

A search for the lepton-flavor violating decay of the Higgs boson and potential additional Higgs bosons with a mass in the range 110-160 GeV to an e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ pair is presented. The search is performed with a proton-proton collision dataset at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. No excess is observed for the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limit on the e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ branching fraction for it is determined to be 4.4 (4.7) $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ at 95% confidence level, the most stringent limit set thus far from direct searches. The largest excess of events over the expected background in the full mass range of the search is observed at an e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ invariant mass of approximately 146 GeV with a local (global) significance of 3.8 (2.8) standard deviations.

A search for the rare $\eta$$\to$$\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$ double-Dalitz decay is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with high-rate muon triggers in 2017-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$. A signal having a statistical significance well in excess of 5 standard deviations is observed. Using the $\eta$$\to$$\mu^+ \mu^-$ decay as normalization, the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}(\eta$$\to$$\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-)$ = [5.0 $\pm$ 0.8 (stat) $\pm$ 0.7 (syst) $\pm$ 0.7 ($\mathcal{B}_{2\mu}$)] $\times$ 10$^{-9}$ is measured, where the last term is the uncertainty in the normalization channel branching fraction. This work achieves an improved precision of over five orders of magnitude compared to previous results, leading to the first measurement of this branching fraction, which is found to agree with theoretical predictions.

The central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-$\beta^*$ run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\lt$ 0.7 GeV or $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\gt$ 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$ are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton.

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.

A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson (H) with a mass of 125 GeV to a pair of light pseudoscalars $\mathrm{a}_1$ is performed in final states where one pseudoscalar decays to two b quarks and the other to a pair of muons or $\tau$ leptons. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the CMS detector is analyzed. No statistically significant excess is observed over the standard model backgrounds. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level (CL) on the Higgs boson branching fraction to $\mu\mu$bb and to $\tau\tau$bb, via a pair of $\mathrm{a}_1$s. The limits depend on the pseudoscalar mass $m_{\mathrm{a}_1}$ and are observed to be in the range (0.17-3.3) $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ and (1.7-7.7) $\times$ 10$^{-2}$ in the $\mu\mu$bb and $\tau\tau$bb final states, respectively. In the framework of models with two Higgs doublets and a complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S), the results of the two final states are combined to determine model-independent upper limits on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ $\mathrm{a}_1\mathrm{a}_1$ $\to$ $\ell\ell$bb) at 95% CL, with $\ell$ being a muon or a $\tau$ lepton. For different types of 2HDM+S, upper bounds on the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ $\mathrm{a}_1\mathrm{a}_1$) are extracted from the combination of the two channels. In most of the Type II 2HDM+S parameter space, $\mathcal{B}($H $\to$ $\mathrm{a}_1\mathrm{a}_1$) values above 0.23 are excluded at 95% CL for $m_{\mathrm{a}_1}$ values between 15 and 60 GeV.