This Letter presents a search for new physics manifested as anomalous triple gauge boson couplings in WW and WZ diboson production in proton-proton collisions. The search is performed using events containing a W boson that decays leptonically and a W or Z boson whose decay products are merged into a single reconstructed jet. The data, collected at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19 inverse femtobarns. No evidence for anomalous triple gauge couplings is found and the following 95% confidence level limits are set on their values: lambda ([-0.011, 0.011]), Delta kappa[gamma] ([-0.044, 0.063]), and Delta g[1,Z] ([-0.0087, 0.024]). These limits are also translated into their effective field theory equivalents: c[WWW] / Lambda^2 ([-2.7, 2.7] TeV^{-2}), c[B] / Lambda^2 ([-14, 17] TeV^{-2}), and c[W] / Lambda^2 ([-2.0, 5.7] TeV^{-2}).

Despite the f$_0$(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$) meson, a tetraquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f$_0$(980) state is an ordinary $\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies ($v_2$) with the number of constituent quarks ($n_\mathrm{q}$), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f$_0$(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f$_0$(980) $\to$$\pi^+\pi^-$, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and its $v_2$ is measured as a function of transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$). It is found that the $n_q$ = 2 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ state) hypothesis is favored over $n_q$ = 4 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$ or $\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$ states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 10, 8, or 6 GeV/$c$ ranges, respectively, and over $n_\mathrm{q}$ = 3 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$ hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 8 GeV/$c$ range. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f$_0$(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates.

Measurements of the charge-dependent two-particle angular correlation function in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV and lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at$\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are reported. The pPb and PbPb datasets correspond to integrated luminosities of 186\nbinv and 0.607 nb$^{-1}$, respectively, and were collected using the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The charge-dependent correlations are characterized by balance functions of same- and opposite-sign particle pairs. The balance functions, which contain information about the creation time of charged particle pairs and the development of collectivity, are studied as functions of relative pseudorapidity ($\Delta \eta$) and relative azimuthal angle ($\Delta \phi$), for various multiplicity and transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) intervals. A multiplicity dependence of the balance function is observed in $\Delta \eta$ and $\Delta \phi$ for both systems. The width of the balance functions decreases towards high-multiplicity collisions in the momentum region $\lt$2 GeV, for pPb and PbPb results. No multiplicity dependence is observed at higher transverse momentum. The data are compared with HYDJET, HIJING and AMPT generator predictions, none of which capture completely the multiplicity dependence seen in the data.

A study of the associated production of a Z boson and a charm quark jet (Z + c), and a comparison to production with a b quark jet (Z + b), in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are presented. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The Z boson candidates are identified through their decays into pairs of electrons or muons. Jets originating from heavy flavour quarks are identified using semileptonic decays of c or b flavoured hadrons and hadronic decays of charm hadrons. The measurements are performed in the kinematic region with two leptons with $p_{\rm T}^{\ell} > $ 20 GeV, ${|\eta^{\ell}|} < $ 2.1, 71 $ < m_{\ell\ell} < $ 111 GeV, and heavy flavour jets with $p_{\rm T}^{{\rm jet}} > $ 25 GeV and ${|\eta^{{\rm jet}}|} < $ 2.5. The Z + c production cross section is measured to be $\sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{c} + \mathrm{X}) {\cal B}(\mathrm{Z} \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-) = $ 8.8 $ \pm $ 0.5 (stat) $ \pm $ 0.6 (syst) pb. The ratio of the Z + c and Z + b production cross sections is measured to be $\sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{c} + \mathrm{X}) / \sigma({\mathrm{p}}{\mathrm{p}} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} + \mathrm{b} + \mathrm{X}) = $ 2.0 $ \pm $ 0.2 (stat) $ \pm $ 0.2 (syst). The Z + c production cross section and the cross section ratio are also measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the Z boson and of the heavy flavour jet. The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions.

Measurements are presented of the triple-differential cross section for inclusive isolated-photon+jet events in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV as a function of photon transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$), photon pseudorapidity ($\eta^\gamma$), and jet pseudorapidity ($\eta^\text{jet}$). The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb$^{-1}$ that probe a broad range of the available phase space, for $|\eta^\gamma|$ $<$ 1.44 and 1.57 $<$ $|\eta^\gamma|$ $<$ 2.50, $|\eta^\text{jet}|$ $<$ 2.5, 40 $<$ $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$ $<$ 1000 GeV, and jet transverse momentum, $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet}$, $>$ 25 GeV. The measurements are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations, which reproduce the data within uncertainties.

Normalized double-differential cross sections for top quark pair (t t-bar) production are measured in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in the dilepton e+/- mu-/+ final state. The t t-bar cross section is determined as a function of various pairs of observables characterizing the kinematics of the top quark and t t-bar system. The data are compared to calculations using perturbative quantum chromodynamics at next-to-leading and approximate next-to-next-to-leading orders. They are also compared to predictions of Monte Carlo event generators that complement fixed-order computations with parton showers, hadronization, and multiple-parton interactions. Overall agreement is observed with the predictions, which is improved when the latest global sets of proton parton distribution functions are used. The inclusion of the measured t t-bar cross sections in a fit of parametrized parton distribution functions is shown to have significant impact on the gluon distribution.

A measurement is presented of the triple-differential dijet cross section at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV using 19.7 inverse femtobarns of data collected with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The cross section is measured as a function of the average transverse momentum, half the rapidity separation, and the boost of the two leading jets in the event. The cross section is corrected for detector effects and compared to calculations in perturbative quantum chromodynamics at next-to-leading order accuracy, complemented with electroweak and nonperturbative corrections. New constraints on parton distribution functions are obtained and the inferred value of the strong coupling constant is alpha[S](M[Z]) = 0.1199 +/- 0.0015 (exp) -0.0020 +0.0031 (theo), where M[Z] is the mass of the Z boson.

Jet charge is an estimator of the electric charge of a quark, antiquark, or gluon initiating a jet. It is based on the momentum-weighted sum of the electric charges of the jet constituents. Measurements of three charge observables of the leading jet in transverse momentum pT are performed with dijet events. The analysis is carried out with data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The results are presented as a function of the pT of the leading jet and compared to predictions from leading- and next-to-leading-order event generators combined with parton showers. Measured jet charge distributions, unfolded for detector effects, are reported, which expand on previous measurements of the jet charge average and standard deviation in pp collisions.

Measurements are presented of W gamma gamma and Z gamma gamma production in proton-proton collisions. Fiducial cross sections are reported based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.4 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. Signal is identified through the W to l nu and Z to ll decay modes, where l is a muon or an electron. The production of W gamma gamma and Z gamma gamma, measured with significances of 2.6 and 5.9 standard deviations, respectively, is consistent with standard model predictions. In addition, limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in W gamma gamma production are determined in the context of a dimension-8 effective field theory.

An analysis of the decay $\Lambda_b \to J/\psi(\to\mu^+\mu^-)\Lambda(\to p \pi^-)$ decay is performed to measure the $\Lambda_b$ polarization and three angular parameters in data from pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 and 8 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The $\Lambda_b$ polarization is measured to be 0.00 $\pm$ 0.06 (stat) $\pm$ 0.06 (syst) and the parity-violating asymmetry parameter is determined to be 0.14 $\pm$ 0.14 (stat) $\pm$ 0.10 (syst). The measurements are compared to various theoretical predictions, including those from perturbative quantum chromodynamics.