A search for dark matter particles produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of $\tau$ leptons is performed using data collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector. The analysis is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$^{-1}$ collected in 2017$-$2018. No significant excess over the expected standard model background is observed. This result is interpreted within the frameworks of the 2HDM+a and baryonic Z$'$ benchmark simplified models. The 2HDM+a model is a type-II two-Higgs-doublet model featuring a heavy pseudoscalar with an additional light pseudoscalar. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the production cross section and the branching fraction for each of these two simplified models. Heavy pseudoscalar boson masses between 400 and 700 GeV are excluded for a light pseudoscalar mass of 100 GeV. For the baryonic Z$'$ model, a statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data set of 36 fb$^{-1}$ collected in 2016. In this model, Z$'$ boson masses up to 1050 GeV are excluded for a dark matter particle mass of 1 GeV.
An inclusive search for long-lived exotic particles (LLPs) decaying to final states with a pair of muons is presented. The search uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.6 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS experiment from the proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13.6 TeV in 2022, the first year of Run 3 of the CERN LHC. The experimental signature is a pair of oppositely charged muons originating from a common vertex spatially separated from the proton-proton interaction point by distances ranging from several hundred $\mu$m to several meters. The sensitivity of the search benefits from new triggers for displaced dimuons developed for Run 3. The results are interpreted in the framework of the hidden Abelian Higgs model, in which the Higgs boson decays to a pair of long-lived dark photons, and of an $R$-parity violating supersymmetry model, in which long-lived neutralinos decay to a pair of muons and a neutrino. The limits set on these models are the most stringent to date in wide regions of lifetimes for LLPs with masses larger than 10 GeV.
A search for pairs of light neutral pseudoscalar bosons (A) resulting from the decay of a Higgs boson is performed. The search is conducted using LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector in 2016$-$2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The A boson decays into a highly collimated electron-positron pair. A novel multivariate algorithm using tracks and calorimeter information is developed to identify these distinctive signatures, and events are selected with two such merged electron-positron pairs. No significant excess above the standard model background predictions is observed. Upper limits on the branching fraction for H $\to$ AA $\to$ 4e are set at 95% confidence level, for masses between 10 and 100 MeV and proper decay lengths below 100 $μ$m, reaching branching fraction sensitivities as low as 10$^{-5}$. This is the first search for Higgs boson decays to four electrons via light pseudoscalars at the LHC. It significantly improves the experimental sensitivity to axion-like particles with masses below 100 MeV.
Measurements of the polarization and spin correlation in top quark pairs ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) are presented using events with a single electron or muon and jets in the final state. The measurements are based on proton-proton collision data from the LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. All coefficients of the polarization vectors and the spin correlation matrix are extracted simultaneously by performing a binned likelihood fit to the data. The measurement is performed inclusively and in bins of additional observables, such as the mass of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ system and the top quark scattering angle in the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ rest frame. The measured polarization and spin correlation are in agreement with the standard model. From the measured spin correlation, conclusions on the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ spin entanglement are drawn by applying the Peres-Horodecki criterion. The standard model predicts entangled spins for $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ states at the production threshold and at high masses of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ system. Entanglement is observed for the first time in events at high $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ mass, where a large fraction of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ decays are space-like separated, with an expected and observed significance of above 5 standard deviations.
Results are presented of a search for a heavy Majorana neutrino N$_\ell$ decaying into two same-flavor leptons $\ell$ (electrons or muons) and a quark-pair jet. A model is considered in which the N$_\ell$ is an excited neutrino in a compositeness scenario. The analysis is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The data are found to be in agreement with the standard model prediction. For the process in which the N$_\ell$ is produced in association with a lepton, followed by the decay of the N$_\ell$ to a same-flavor lepton and a quark pair, an upper limit at 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction is obtained as a function of the N$_\ell$ mass \mhcmn and the compositeness scale $\Lambda$. For this model the data exclude the existence of N$_\text{e}$ (N$_\mu$) for $m_{\text{N}_\ell}$ below 6.0 (6.1) TeV, at the limit where $m_{\text{N}_\ell}$ is equal to $\Lambda$. For $m_{\text{N}_\ell}$ $\approx$ 1 TeV, values of $\Lambda$ less than 20 (23) TeV are excluded. These results represent a considerable improvement in sensitivity, covering a larger parameter space than previous searches in pp collisions at 13 TeV.
A measurement of the Z$γ$ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV is presented. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34.8 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2022 are used. Events with an oppositely charged pair of muons or electrons, with an invariant mass corresponding to a Z boson, together with an isolated photon are selected. The measured fiducial cross section for the combined electron and muon channels is 1.896 $\pm$ 0.033 (stat) $\pm$ 0.05 (syst) $\pm$ 0.006 (theo) pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction of 1.922 $\pm$ 0.094 pb. Constraints on neutral triple gauge couplings generated by dimension-8 operators in a recently proposed effective field theory framework are determined for the first time.
A search is presented for heavy bosons decaying to Z($\nu\bar{\nu}$)V(qq'), where V can be a W or a Z boson. A sample of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV was collected by the CMS experiment during 2016-2018. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. The event categorization is based on the presence of high-momentum jets in the forward region to identify production through weak vector boson fusion. Additional categorization uses jet substructure techniques and the presence of large missing transverse momentum to identify W and Z bosons decaying to quarks and neutrinos, respectively. The dominant standard model backgrounds are estimated using data taken from control regions. The results are interpreted in terms of radion, W' boson, and graviton models, under the assumption that these bosons are produced via gluon-gluon fusion, Drell-Yan, or weak vector boson fusion processes. No evidence is found for physics beyond the standard model. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on various types of hypothetical new bosons. Observed (expected) exclusion limits on the masses of these bosons range from 1.2 to 4.0 (1.1 to 3.7) TeV.
A search is presented for single production of a vector-like T quark with charge 2/3 $e$, in the decay channel featuring a top quark and a Z boson, with the top quark decaying hadronically and the Z boson decaying to neutrinos. The search uses data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ recorded at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018. The search is sensitive to a T quark mass between 0.6 and 1.8 TeV with decay widths ranging from negligibly small up to 30% of the T quark mass. Reconstruction strategies for the top quark are based on the degree of Lorentz boosting of its final state. At 95% confidence level, the upper limit on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for a T quark of small decay width varies between 15 and 602 fb, depending on its mass. For a T quark with decay widths between 10 and 30% of its mass, this upper limit ranges between 16 and 836 fb. For most of the studied range, the results provide the best limits to date. This is the first search for single T quark production based on the full Run 2 data set of the LHC.
A search for new heavy resonances decaying to pairs of bosons (WW, WZ, or WH) is presented. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. One of the bosons is required to be a W boson decaying to an electron or muon and a neutrino, while the other boson is required to be reconstructed as a single jet with mass and substructure compatible with a quark pair from a W, Z, or Higgs boson decay. The search is performed in the resonance mass range between 1.0 and 4.5 TeV and includes a specific search for resonances produced via vector boson fusion. The signal is extracted using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood fit to the jet mass and the diboson invariant mass distributions. No significant excess is observed above the estimated background. Model-independent upper limits on the production cross sections of spin-0, spin-1, and spin-2 heavy resonances are derived as functions of the resonance mass and are interpreted in the context of bulk radion, heavy vector triplet, and bulk graviton models. The reported bounds are the most stringent to date.
A search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS detector in 2016-2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The search is sensitive to resonances with masses between 1.3 and 6 TeV, decaying to bosons that are highly Lorentz-boosted such that each of the bosons forms a single large-radius jet. Machine learning techniques are employed to identify such jets. No significant excess over the estimated standard model background is observed. A maximum local significance of 3.6 standard deviations, corresponding to a global significance of 2.3 standard deviations, is observed at masses of 2.1 and 2.9 TeV. In a heavy vector triplet model, spin-1 Z' and W' resonances with masses below 4.8 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level (CL). These limits are the most stringent to date. In a bulk graviton model, spin-2 gravitons and spin-0 radions with masses below 1.4 and 2.7 TeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% CL. Production of heavy resonances through vector boson fusion is constrained with upper cross section limits at 95% CL as low as 0.1 fb.