A search for pair production of third-generation scalar leptoquarks and supersymmetric top quark partners, top squarks, in final states involving tau leptons and bottom quarks is presented. The search uses events from a data sample of proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC with sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The number of observed events is found to be in agreement with the expected standard model background. Third-generation scalar leptoquarks with masses below 740 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level, assuming a 100% branching fraction for the leptoquark decay to a tau lepton and a bottom quark. In addition, this mass limit applies directly to top squarks decaying via an R-parity violating coupling lambda'[333]. The search also considers a similar signature from top squarks undergoing a chargino-mediated decay involving the R-parity violating coupling lambda'[3jk]. Each top squark decays to a tau lepton, a bottom quark, and two light quarks. Top squarks in this model with masses below 580 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. The constraint on the leptoquark mass is the most stringent to date, and this is the first search for top squarks decaying via lambda'[3jk].
The estimated backgrounds, observed event yields, and expected number of signal events for the leptoquark search. For the simulation-based entries, the statistical and systematic uncertainties are shown separately, in that order.
The estimated backgrounds, observed event yields, and expected number of signal events for the top squark search. For the simulation-based entries, the statistical and systematic uncertainties are shown separately, in that order.
Selection efficiencies in % for the signal in the leptoquark search, estimated from the simulation.
A search is presented for vector-like T and B quark-antiquark pairs produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Data were collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018, with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events are separated into single-lepton, same-sign charge dilepton, and multilepton channels. In the analysis of the single-lepton channel a multilayer neural network and jet identification techniques are employed to select signal events, while the same-sign dilepton and multilepton channels rely on the high-energy signature of the signal to distinguish it from standard model backgrounds. The data are consistent with standard model background predictions, and the production of vector-like quark pairs is excluded at 95% confidence level for T quark masses up to 1.54 TeV and B quark masses up to 1.56 TeV, depending on the branching fractions assumed, with maximal sensitivity to decay modes that include multiple top quarks. The limits obtained in this search are the strongest limits to date for $\mathrm{T\overline{T}}$ production, excluding masses below 1.48 TeV for all decays to third generation quarks, and are the strongest limits to date for $\mathrm{B\overline{B}}$ production with B quark decays to tW.
Distribution of ST in the training region for the $T\overline{T}$ MLP. The observed data are shown along with the predicted $T\overline{T}$ signal with mass of 1.2 (1.5) TeV in the singlet scenario and the background. Statistical and systematic uncertainties in the background prediction before performing the fit to data are also shown. The signal predictions of 1.2 TeV and 1.5 TeV signals have been scaled by factors of x300 and x600, respectively, for visibility.
Distribution of the leading jet’s DEEPAK8 light quark or gluon score in the training region for the $T\overline{T}$ MLP. The observed data are shown along with the predicted $T\overline{T}$ signal with mass of 1.2 (1.5) TeV in the singlet scenario and the background. Statistical and systematic uncertainties in the background prediction before performing the fit to data are also shown. The signal predictions of 1.2 TeV and 1.5 TeV signals have been scaled by factors of x300 and x600, respectively, for visibility.
Distribution of the MLP T quark score in the SR for the $T\overline{T}$ search. The observed data, predicted $T\overline{T}$ signal with mass of 1.2 (1.5) TeV in the singlet scenario, and the background are all shown. Statistical and systematic uncertainties in the background prediction before performing the fit to data are also shown. The signal predictions of 1.2 TeV and 1.5 TeV signals have been scaled by factors of x10 and x20, respectively, for visibility.
A search for the pair production of resonances, each decaying to two quarks, is reported. The search is conducted separately for heavier resonances (masses above 400 GeV), where each of the four final-state quarks generates a hadronic jet resulting in a four-jet signature, and for lighter resonances (masses between 80 and 400 GeV), where the pair of quarks from each resonance is collimated and reconstructed as a single jet resulting in a two-jet signature. In addition, a b-tagged selection is applied to target resonances with a bottom quark in the final state. The analysis uses data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$, from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The mass spectra are analyzed for the presence of new resonances, and are found to be consistent with standard model expectations. The results are interpreted in the framework of $R$-parity-violating supersymmetry assuming the pair production of scalar top quarks decaying via the hadronic coupling $\lambda_{312}"$ or $\lambda_{323}"$, and upper limits on the cross section as a function of the top squark mass are set. These results probe lower masses than previously explored at the LHC, and extend the top squark mass limits in the $\widetilde{\mathrm{t}}$$\to$qq$'$ scenario.
Signal efficiency as a function of stop mass for the inclusive and b-tagged selections. Efficiency is estimated from the number of events in the simulated sample passing the full signal selection in a two sigma window around the true mass compared with the total number of events generated. No generator-level requirements are applied in the generation.
Boosted search average pruned mass distribution for data (black points) and for the total background prediction for the inclusive selection.
Boosted search average pruned mass distribution for data and for the total background prediction for the b-tagged selection.
A search for the production of a heavy B quark, having electric charge -1/3 and vector couplings to W, Z, and H bosons, is carried out using proton-proton collision data recorded at the CERN LHC by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The B quark is assumed to be pair produced and to decay in one of three ways: to tW, bZ, or bH. The search is carried out in final states with one, two, and more than two charged leptons, as well as in fully hadronic final states. Each of the channels in the exclusive final-state topologies is designed to be sensitive to specific combinations of the B quark-antiquark pair decays. The observed event yields are found to be consistent with the standard model expectations in all the final states studied. A statistical combination of these results is performed and upper limits are set on the cross section of the strongly produced B quark-antiquark pairs as a function of the B quark mass. Lower limits on the B quark mass between 740 and 900 GeV are set at a 95% confidence level, depending on the values of the branching fractions of the B quark to tW, bZ, and bH. Overall, these limits are the most stringent to date.
Event yields for the electron + jets categories.
Event yields for the muon + jets categories.
Event yields for the same-sign dilepton e+e category.
The first search is presented for vector-like leptons (VLLs) in the context of the "4321 model", an ultraviolet-complete model with the potential to explain existing B physics measurements that are in tension with standard model predictions. The analyzed data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 96.5 fb$^{-1}$, were recorded in 2017 and 2018 with the CMS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. Final states with ${\geq}$ 3 b-tagged jets and two third-generation leptons ($\tau\tau$, $\tau\nu_\tau$, or $\nu_\tau\nu_\tau$) are considered. Upper limits are derived on the VLL production cross section in the VLL mass range 500-1050 GeV. The maximum likelihood fit prefers the presence of signal at the level of 2.8 standard deviations, for a representative VLL mass point of 600 GeV. As a consequence, the observed upper limits are approximately double the expected limits.
Expected and observed $95\%$ CL upper limits on the product of the VLL pair production cross section and the branching fraction to third generation quarks and leptons, combining the 2017 and 2018 data and all $\tau_\textrm{h}$ multiplicity channels. The theoretical prediction in the 4321 model for electroweak production of VLLs is also shown.
A data sample of events from proton-proton collisions with at least two jets, and two isolated same-sign or three or more charged leptons, is studied in a search for signatures of new physics phenomena. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in 2016-2018 by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The search is performed using a total of 168 signal regions defined using several kinematic variables. The properties of the events are found to be consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are set on cross sections for the pair production of gluinos or squarks for various decay scenarios in the context of supersymmetric models conserving or violating R parity. The observed lower mass limits are as large as 2.1 TeV for gluinos and 0.9 TeV for top and bottom squarks. To facilitate reinterpretations, model-independent limits are provided in a set of simplified signal regions.
Exclusion regions at 95% CL in the $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0}$ versus $m_{\tilde{g}}$ plane for the T1tttt (upper left) and T5ttbbWW (upper right) models, with off-shell third-generation squarks, and the T5tttt (lower left) and T5ttcc (lower right) models, with on-shell third-generation squarks. For the T5ttbbWW model, $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^\pm} = m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} + 5 GeV$, for the T5tttt model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = m_t$, and for the T5ttcc model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = 20 GeV$ and the decay proceeds through $\tilde{t} \to c \tilde{\chi}_1^0$. The right-hand side color scale indicates the excluded cross section values for a given point in the SUSY particle mass plane. The solid black curves represent the observed exclusion limits assuming the approximate-NNLO+NNLL cross sections (thick line), or their variations of $\pm 1$ standard deviations (s.d.) (thin lines). The dashed red curves show the expected limits with the corresponding $\pm 1$ s.d. and $\pm 2$ s.d. uncertainties. Excluded regions are to the left and below the limit curves.
Exclusion regions at 95% CL in the $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0}$ versus $m_{\tilde{g}}$ plane for the T1tttt (upper left) and T5ttbbWW (upper right) models, with off-shell third-generation squarks, and the T5tttt (lower left) and T5ttcc (lower right) models, with on-shell third-generation squarks. For the T5ttbbWW model, $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^\pm} = m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} + 5 GeV$, for the T5tttt model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = m_t$, and for the T5ttcc model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = 20 GeV$ and the decay proceeds through $\tilde{t} \to c \tilde{\chi}_1^0$. The right-hand side color scale indicates the excluded cross section values for a given point in the SUSY particle mass plane. The solid black curves represent the observed exclusion limits assuming the approximate-NNLO+NNLL cross sections (thick line), or their variations of $\pm 1$ standard deviations (s.d.) (thin lines). The dashed red curves show the expected limits with the corresponding $\pm 1$ s.d. and $\pm 2$ s.d. uncertainties. Excluded regions are to the left and below the limit curves.
Exclusion regions at 95% CL in the $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0}$ versus $m_{\tilde{g}}$ plane for the T1tttt (upper left) and T5ttbbWW (upper right) models, with off-shell third-generation squarks, and the T5tttt (lower left) and T5ttcc (lower right) models, with on-shell third-generation squarks. For the T5ttbbWW model, $m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^\pm} = m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} + 5 GeV$, for the T5tttt model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = m_t$, and for the T5ttcc model, $m_{\tilde{t}} - m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0} = 20 GeV$ and the decay proceeds through $\tilde{t} \to c \tilde{\chi}_1^0$. The right-hand side color scale indicates the excluded cross section values for a given point in the SUSY particle mass plane. The solid black curves represent the observed exclusion limits assuming the approximate-NNLO+NNLL cross sections (thick line), or their variations of $\pm 1$ standard deviations (s.d.) (thin lines). The dashed red curves show the expected limits with the corresponding $\pm 1$ s.d. and $\pm 2$ s.d. uncertainties. Excluded regions are to the left and below the limit curves.
A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three charged leptons (electrons or muons) is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016-2018. The two targeted signal processes are pair production of type-III seesaw heavy fermions and production of a light scalar or pseudoscalar boson in association with a pair of top quarks. The heavy fermions may be manifested as an excess of events with large values of leptonic transverse momenta or missing transverse momentum. The light scalars or pseudoscalars may create a localized excess in the dilepton mass spectra. The results exclude heavy fermions of the type-III seesaw model for masses below 880 GeV at 95% confidence level in the scenario of equal branching fractions to each lepton flavor. This is the most restrictive limit on the flavor-democratic scenario of the type-III seesaw model to date. Assuming a Yukawa coupling of unit strength to top quarks, branching fractions of new scalar (pseudoscalar) bosons to dielectrons or dimuons above 0.004 (0.03) and 0.04 (0.03) are excluded at 95% confidence level for masses in the range 15-75 and 108-340 GeV, respectively. These are the first limits in these channels on an extension of the standard model with scalar or pseudoscalar particles.
The $M_{T}$ distribution in the WZ-enriched region. The last bin contains the overflow events.
The $L_{T}$ distribution in the ttZ-enriched region. The last bin contains the overflow events.
The $S_{T}$ distribution in the ZZ-enriched region. The last bin contains the overflow events.
A search for new physics in top quark production with additional final-state leptons is performed using data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV at the LHC during 2016-2018. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Using the framework of effective field theory (EFT), potential new physics effects are parametrized in terms of 26 dimension-six EFT operators. The impacts of EFT operators are incorporated through the event-level reweighting of Monte Carlo simulations, which allows for detector-level predictions. The events are divided into several categories based on lepton multiplicity, total lepton charge, jet multiplicity, and b-tagged jet multiplicity. Kinematic variables corresponding to the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) of the leading pair of leptons and/or jets as well as the $p_\mathrm{T}$ of on-shell Z bosons are used to extract the 95% confidence intervals of the 26 Wilson coefficients corresponding to these EFT operators. No significant deviation with respect to the standard model prediction is found.
The 1$\sigma$ and 2$\sigma$ uncertainty intervals extracted from the likelihood fits described in Section 7. The intervals are shown for the case where the other WCs are profiled, and the case where the other WCs are fixed to their SM values of zero.
Observed $2 \Delta NLL$ of a 2D scan for $c_{tW}$ and $c_{tZ}$ with the other WCs profiled.
Observed $2 \Delta NLL$ of a 2D scan for $c_{tW}$ and $c_{tZ}$ with the other WCs fixed to their SM values.
A search for quark compositeness using dijet angular distributions from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The search has been carried out using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Normalized dijet angular distributions have been measured for dijet invariant masses from 0.4 TeV to above 3 TeV and compared with a variety of contact interaction models, including those which take into account the effects of next-to-leading-order QCD corrections. The data are found to be in agreement with the predictions of perturbative QCD, and lower limits are obtained on the contact interaction scale, ranging from 7.5 up to 14.5 TeV at 95% confidence level.
Normalized dijet angular distributions for |yboost| < 1.11 and Mjj > 3.0 TeV.
Normalized dijet angular distributions for yboost < 1.11 and 2.4 < Mjj < 3.0 TeV.
Normalized dijet angular distributions for yboost < 1.11 and 1.9 < Mjj < 2.4 TeV.
A search is presented for quark contact interactions and extra spatial dimensions in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV using dijet angular distributions. The search is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected by the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. Dijet angular distributions are found to be in agreement with the perturbative QCD predictions that include electroweak corrections. Limits on the contact interaction scale from a variety of models at next-to-leading order in QCD corrections are obtained. A benchmark model in which only left-handed quarks participate is excluded up to a scale of 9.0 (11.7) TeV for destructive (constructive) interference at 95% confidence level. Lower limits between 5.9 and 8.4 TeV on the scale of virtual graviton exchange are extracted for the Arkani-Hamed--Dimopoulos--Dvali model of extra spatial dimensions.
Measured dijet angular distributions in bin of dijet invariant mass. P=3 and P=4 refers to the two jets in the final state.
Measured dijet angular distributions in bin of dijet invariant mass.P=3 and P=4 refers to the two jets in the final state.
Measured dijet angular distributions in bin of dijet invariant mass. P=3 and P=4 refers to the two jets in the final state.
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