Using the Primakoff formalism, we have extracted the radiative decay width of the A + 2 (1310) produced in coherent interactions of 200 GeV/ c π + mesons in nuclear targets. The width obtained is 295 ± 60 keV, a value consistent with quark-model predictions.

Using the Primakoff formalism, we have extracted the radiative decay width of the K ∗+ (1430) produced in coherent interactions of 200 GeV/ c K + mesons in nuclear targets. The width obtained is 240 ± 45 keV, a value reasonably consistent with quark-model predictions.

Coherent production of Kπ systems observed in the excitation of 200-GeV/c positive kaons on nuclear targets has been analyzed, including both electromagnetic and strong contributions, to yield a new value for the radiative width for the process K*+(890)→K+γ of 51 ± 5 keV.

The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is observed for the first time in heavy ion collisions. Data from the CMS detector are used to study the production of the $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV, via the $B_\mathrm{c}^+ \to (J/\psi\to\mu^+\mu^-)\mu^+\nu_\mu$ decay. The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ nuclear modification factor, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of production cross sections, is measured in two bins of the trimuon transverse momentum and of the PbPb collision centrality. The B$_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is shown to be less suppressed than quarkonia and most of the open heavy-flavor mesons, suggesting that effects of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions contribute to its production. This measurement sets forth a promising new probe of the interplay of suppression and enhancement mechanisms in the production of heavy-flavor mesons in the quark-gluon plasma.

We have measured the production polarization of 265- and 310-GeV/c Σ− in the inclusive reaction p+Cu→Σ−+X using 400-GeV/c protons. The polarization was analyzed via the asymmetry in the weak decay Σ−→n+π−, and has typical values of +0.20 with respect to the direction of the cross product of the incident-proton and Σ− momenta. Using the spin-precession technique, we have determined the Σ− magnetic moment to be -1.23±0.03±0.03 nuclear magnetons, where the statistical and systematic errors are shown separately.

Production cross sections of $\Upsilon$(1S), $\Upsilon$(2S), and $\Upsilon$(3S) states decaying into $\mu^+\mu^-$ in proton-lead (pPb) collisions are reported using data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV. A comparison is made with corresponding cross sections obtained with pp data measured at the same collision energy and scaled by the Pb nucleus mass number. The nuclear modification factor for $\Upsilon$(1S) is found to be $R_\mathrm{pPb}(\Upsilon(1S))$ = 0.806 $\pm$ 0.024 (stat) $\pm$ 0.059 (syst). Similar results for the excited states indicate a sequential suppression pattern, such that $R_\mathrm{pPb}(\Upsilon(1S))$$\gt$$R_\mathrm{pPb}(\Upsilon(2S))$$\gt$$R_\mathrm{pPb}(\Upsilon(3S))$. The suppression is much less pronounced in pPb than in PbPb collisions, and independent of transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}^\Upsilon$ and center-of-mass rapidity $y_\mathrm{CM}^\Upsilon$ of the individual $\Upsilon$ state in the studied range $p_\mathrm{T}^\Upsilon$$\lt$ 30 GeV$/c$ and $\vert y_\mathrm{CM}^\Upsilon\vert$$\lt$ 1.93. Models that incorporate sequential suppression of bottomonia in pPb collisions are in better agreement with the data than those which only assume initial-state modifications.

The differential cross sections of $\Lambda_\mathrm{c}^+$ baryon production are measured via the exclusive decay channel $\Lambda_\mathrm{c}^+ \to $pK$^-\pi^+$, as a function of transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) in proton-proton (pp) and lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement is performed within the $\Lambda_\mathrm{c}^+$ rapidity interval $|y|<$1.0 in the $p_\mathrm{T}$ range of 5-20 GeV/$c$ in pp and 10-20 GeV/$c$ in PbPb collisions. The observed yields of $\Lambda_\mathrm{c}^+$ for $p_\mathrm{T}$ of 10-20 GeV/$c$ suggest a possible suppression in central PbPb collisions compared to pp collisions. The $\Lambda_\mathrm{c}^+/$D$^0$ production ratio in pp collisions is compared to theoretical models. In PbPb collisions, this ratio is consistent with the result from pp collisions in their common $p_\mathrm{T}$ range.

Anisotropies in the initial energy density distribution of the quark-gluon plasma created in high energy heavy ion collisions lead to anisotropies in the azimuthal distributions of the final-state particles known as collective flow. Fourier harmonic decomposition is used to quantify these anisotropies. The higher-order harmonics can be induced by the same order anisotropies (linear response) or by the combined influence of several lower order anisotropies (nonlinear response) in the initial state. The mixed higher-order anisotropic flow and nonlinear response coefficients of charged particles are measured as functions of transverse momentum and centrality in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV with the CMS detector. The results are compared with viscous hydrodynamic calculations using several different initial conditions, as well as microscopic transport model calculations. None of the models provides a simultaneous description of the mixed higher-order flow harmonics and nonlinear response coefficients.

The momentum-weighted sum of the electric charges of particles inside a jet, known as jet charge, is sensitive to the electric charge of the particle initiating the parton shower. This paper presents jet charge distributions in $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. These data correspond to integrated luminosities of 404 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 27.4 pb$^{-1}$ for PbPb and pp collisions, respectively. Leveraging the sensitivity of the jet charge to fundamental differences in the electric charges of quarks and gluons, the jet charge distributions from simulated events are used as templates to extract the quark- and gluon-like jet fractions from data. The modification of these jet fractions is examined by comparing pp and PbPb data as a function of the overlap of the colliding Pb nuclei (centrality). This measurement tests the color charge dependence of jet energy loss due to interactions with the quark-gluon plasma. No significant modification between different centrality classes and with respect to pp results is observed in the extracted fractions of quark- and gluon-like jet fractions.

The first measurements of the Fourier coefficients ($V_{n\Delta}$) of the azimuthal distributions of charged hadrons emitted from photon-proton ($\gamma$p) interactions at the LHC are presented. The data are extracted from 68.8 nb$^{-1}$ of ultra-peripheral proton-lead (pPb) collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV using the CMS detector. The high energy lead ions produce a flux of photons that can interact with the oncoming proton. This $\gamma$p system provides a set of unique initial conditions with multiplicity lower than in photon-lead collisions but comparable to recent electron-positron and electron-proton data. The $V_{n\Delta}$ coefficients are presented in ranges of event multiplicity and transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) and are compared to corresponding hadronic minimum bias pPb results. For a given multiplicity range, the mean $p_\mathrm{T}$ of charged particles is smaller in $\gamma$p than in pPb collisions. For both the $\gamma$p and pPb samples, $V_{1\Delta}$ is negative, $V_{2\Delta}$ is positive, and $V_{3\Delta}$ consistent with 0. For each multiplicity and $p_\mathrm{T}$ range, $V_{2\Delta}$ is larger for $\gamma$p events. The $\gamma$p data are consistent with model predictions that have no collective effects.