The first measurements of elliptic flow of $\pi^\pm$, ${\rm K}^\pm$, p+$\overline{\rm p}$, ${\rm K_{S}^0}$, $\Lambda$+$\overline{\Lambda}$, $\phi$, $\Xi^-$+$\Xi^+$, and $\Omega^-$+$\Omega^+$ using multiparticle cumulants in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are presented. Results obtained with two- ($v_2\{2\}$) and four-particle cumulants ($v_2\{4\}$) are shown as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$ also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark-gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous $p_{\rm T}$-differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low $p_{\rm T}$ and the approximate scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$, are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide $p_{\rm T}$ range.
The structure of nucleons is multidimensional and depends on the transverse momenta, spatial geometry, and polarization of the constituent partons. Such a structure can be studied using high-energy photons produced in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions. The first measurement of the azimuthal angular correlations of exclusively produced events with two jets in photon-lead interactions at large momentum transfer is presented, a process that is considered to be sensitive to the underlying nuclear gluon polarization. This study uses a data sample of ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.38 nb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measured second harmonic of the correlation between the sum and difference of the two jet momenta is found to be positive, and rising, as the dijet momentum increases. A well-tuned model that has been successful at describing a wide range of proton scattering data from the HERA experiments fails to describe the observed correlations, suggesting the presence of gluon polarization effects.
A measurement is presented of the cross section in proton-proton collisions for the production of two W bosons and one Z boson. It is based on data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 and 13.6 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 200 fb$^{-1}$. Events with four charged leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state are selected. Both nonresonant WWZ production and ZH production, with the Higgs boson decaying into two W bosons, are reported. For the first time, the two processes are measured separately in a simultaneous fit. Combining the two modes, signal strengths relative to the standard model (SM) predictions of 0.75 $^{+0.34}_{-0.29}$ and 1.74 $^{+0.71}_{-0.60}$ are measured for $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 and 13.6 TeV, respectively. The observed (expected) significance for the triboson signal is 3.8 (2.5) standard deviations for $\sqrt{s}$ = 13.6 TeV, thus providing the first evidence for triboson production at this center-of-mass energy. Combining the two modes and the two center-of-mass energies, the inclusive signal strength relative to the SM prediction is measured to be 1.03 $^{+0.31}_{-0.28}$, with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (5.0) standard deviations.
A model-independent measurement of the differential production cross section of the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of W bosons, with a final state including two jets produced in association, is presented. In the analysis, events are selected in which the decay products of the two W bosons consist of an electron, a muon, and missing transverse momentum. The model independence of the measurement is maximized by making use of a discriminating variable that is agnostic to the signal hypothesis developed through machine learning. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector from 2012$-$2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The production cross section is measured as a function of the difference in azimuthal angle between the two jets. The differential cross section measurements are used to constrain Higgs boson couplings within the standard model effective field theory framework.
A search for resonances in top quark pair ($\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$) production in final states with two charged leptons and multiple jets is presented, based on proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis explores the invariant mass of the $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$ system and two angular observables that provide direct access to the correlation of top quark and antiquark spins. A significant excess of events is observed near the kinematic $\text{t}\bar{\text{t}}$ threshold compared to the nonresonant production predicted by fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD). The observed enhancement is consistent with the production of a color-singlet pseudoscalar ($^1$S$^{[1]}_0$) quasi-bound toponium state, as predicted by nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics. Using a simplified model for $^1$S$^{[1]}_0$ toponium, the cross section of the excess above the pQCD prediction is measured to be 8.8 $^{+1.2}_{-1.4}$ pb.
A search is presented for a new scalar resonance, X, decaying to a standard model Higgs boson and another new scalar particle, Y, in the final state where the Higgs boson decays to a $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ pair, while the Y particle decays to a pair of photons. The search is performed in the mass range 240$-$100 \GeV for the resonance X, and in the mass range 70$-$800 GeV for the particle Y, using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 132 fb$^{-1}$. In general, the data are found to be compatible with the standard model expectation. Observed (expected) upper limits at 95% confidence level on the product of the production cross section and the relevant branching fraction are extracted for the X $\to$ YH process, and are found to be within the range of 0.05$-$2.69 (0.08$-$1.94) fb, depending on $m_\mathrm{X}$ and $m_\mathrm{Y}$. The most significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is observed for X and Y masses of 300 and 77 GeV, respectively, with a local (global) significance of 3.33 (0.65) standard deviations.
The production cross section of inclusive isolated photons has been measured by the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC in pp collisions at a centre-of-momentum energy of $\sqrt{s}=$ 7 TeV. The measurement is performed with the electromagnetic calorimeter EMCal and the central tracking detectors, covering a range of $|\eta|<0.27$ in pseudorapidity and a transverse momentum range of $ 10 < p_{\rm T}^{\gamma} < $ 60 GeV/$c$. The result extends the $p_{\rm T}$ coverage of previously published results of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the same collision energy to smaller $p_{\rm T}$. The measurement is compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments. All measurements and theory predictions are in agreement with each other.
A measurement of the WZ$γ$ triboson production cross section is presented. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis focuses on the final state with three charged leptons, $\ell^\pmν\ell^+\ell^-$, where $\ell$ = e or $μ$, accompanied by an additional photon. The observed (expected) significance of the WZ$γ$ signal is 5.4 (3.8) standard deviations. The cross section is measured in a fiducial region, where events with an $\ell$ originating from a tau lepton decay are excluded, to be 5.48 $\pm$ 1.11 fb, which is compatible with the prediction of 3.69 $\pm$ 0.24 fb at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. Exclusion limits are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings and on the production cross sections of massive axion-like particles.
The study of nuclei and antinuclei production has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. The first measurement of the production of ${\rm ^{3}_{\Lambda}\rm H}$ in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV is presented in this Letter. Its production yield measured in the rapidity interval $-1 < y < 0$ for the 40% highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions is ${\rm d} N /{\rm d} y =[\mathrm{6.3 \pm 1.8 (stat.) \pm 1.2 (syst.) ] \times 10^{-7}}$. The measurement is compared with the expectations of statistical hadronisation and coalescence models, which describe the nucleosynthesis in hadronic collisions. These two models predict very different yields of the hypertriton in charged particle multiplicity environments relevant to small collision systems such as p-Pb and therefore the measurement of ${\rm d} N /{\rm d} y$ is crucial to distinguish between them. The precision of this measurement leads to the exclusion with a significance larger than 6.9$\sigma$ of some configurations of the statistical hadronization model, thus constraining the theory behind the production of loosely bound states at hadron colliders.
Results on the transverse spherocity dependence of light-flavor particle production ($\pi$, K, p, $\phi$, ${\rm K^{*0}}$, ${\rm K}^{0}_{\rm{S}}$, $\Lambda$, $\Xi$) at midrapidity in high-multiplicity pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV were obtained with the ALICE apparatus. The transverse spherocity estimator ($S_{{\rm O}}^{{\it p}_{\rm T}=1}$) categorizes events by their azimuthal topology. Utilizing narrow selections on $S_{\text{O}}^{{\it p}_{\rm T}=1}$, it is possible to contrast particle production in collisions dominated by many soft initial interactions with that observed in collisions dominated by one or more hard scatterings. Results are reported for two multiplicity estimators covering different pseudorapidity regions. The $S_{{\rm O}}^{{\it p}_{\rm T}=1}$ estimator is found to effectively constrain the hardness of the events when the midrapidity ($\left | \eta \right |< 0.8$) estimator is used. The production rates of strange particles are found to be slightly higher for soft isotropic topologies, and severely suppressed in hard jet-like topologies. These effects are more pronounced for hadrons with larger mass and strangeness content, and observed when the topological selection is done within a narrow multiplicity interval. This demonstrates that an important aspect of the universal scaling of strangeness enhancement with final-state multiplicity is that high-multiplicity collisions are dominated by soft, isotropic processes. On the contrary, strangeness production in events with jet-like processes is significantly reduced. The results presented in this article are compared with several QCD-inspired Monte Carlo event generators. Models that incorporate a two-component phenomenology, either through mechanisms accounting for string density, or thermal production, are able to describe the observed strangeness enhancement as a function of $S_{{\rm O}}^{{\it p}_{\rm T}=1}$.
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