The production of prompt $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ baryons is measured via the exclusive decay channel $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$$\to$ pK$^-\pi^+$ at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV, using proton-proton (pp) and lead-lead (PbPb) collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The pp and PbPb data were obtained in 2017 and 2018 with integrated luminosities of 252 and 0.607 nb$^{-1}$, respectively. The measurements are performed within the $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ rapidity interval $\vert y \vert$$\lt$ 1 with transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) ranges of 3-30 and 6-40 GeV/$c$ for pp and PbPb collisions, respectively. Compared to the yields in pp collisions scaled by the expected number of nucleon-nucleon interactions, the observed yields of $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ with $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 10 GeV/$c$ are strongly suppressed in PbPb collisions. The level of suppression depends significantly on the collision centrality. The $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ / D$^0$ production ratio is similar in PbPb and pp collisions at $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 10 GeV/$c$, suggesting that the coalescence process does not play a dominant role in prompt $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ baryon production at higher $p_\mathrm{T}$.
The production of $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions is studied in their dimuon decay channel using the CMS detector at the LHC. The $\Upsilon$(3S) meson is observed for the first time in PbPb collisions, with a significance above five standard deviations. The ratios of yields measured in PbPb and pp collisions are reported for both the $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons, as functions of transverse momentum and PbPb collision centrality. These ratios, when appropriately scaled, are significantly less than unity, indicating a suppression of $\Upsilon$ yields in PbPb collisions. This suppression increases from peripheral to central PbPb collisions. Furthermore, the suppression is stronger for $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons compared to $\Upsilon$(2S) mesons, extending the pattern of sequential suppression of quarkonium states in nuclear collisions previously seen for the $\psi$/J, $\psi$(2S), $\Upsilon$(1S), and $\Upsilon$(2S) mesons.
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.
The transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{t}$) spectrum of prompt D$^0$ mesons and their antiparticles has been measured via the hadronic decay channels D$^0 \to \mathrm{K}^- \pi^+$ and $\overline{\mathrm{D}}^0 \to \mathrm{K}^+ \pi^-$ in pp and PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement is performed in the D$^0$ meson $p_\mathrm{t}$ range of 2-100 GeV and in the rapidity range of $|y| < $1. The pp (PbPb) dataset used for this analysis corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$ (530 $\mu$b$^{-1}$). The measured D$^0$ meson $p_\mathrm{t}$ spectrum in pp collisions is well described by perturbative QCD calculations. The nuclear modification factor, comparing D$^0$ meson yields in PbPb and pp collisions, was extracted for both minimum-bias and the 10% most central PbPb interactions. For central events, the D$^0$ meson yield in the PbPb collisions is suppressed by a factor of 5-6 compared to the pp reference in the $p_\mathrm{t}$ range of 6-10 GeV. For D$^0$ mesons in the high-$p_\mathrm{t}$ range of 60-100 GeV, a significantly smaller suppression is observed. The results are also compared to theoretical calculations.
A search for Z bosons in the mu^+mu^- decay channel has been performed in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre of mass energy = 2.76 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, in a 7.2 inverse microbarn data sample. The number of opposite-sign muon pairs observed in the 60--120 GeV/c2 invariant mass range is 39, corresponding to a yield per unit of rapidity (y) and per minimum bias event of (33.8 ± 5.5 (stat) ± 4.4 (syst)) 10^{-8}, in the |y|<2.0 range. Rapidity, transverse momentum, and centrality dependencies are also measured. The results agree with next-to-leading order QCD calculations, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions.
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.
The cross sections for $\Upsilon$(1S), $\Upsilon$(2S), and $\Upsilon$(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, R$_\mathrm{AA}$, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(1S)) $>$ R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(2S)) $>$ R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(3S)) . The suppression of $\Upsilon$(1S) is larger than that seen at $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the R$_\mathrm{AA}$ of $\Upsilon$(3S) integrated over $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity is 0.094 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for any hadron species in heavy ion collisions to date.
The differential yields of charged particles having pseudorapidity within $|\eta|<$ 1 are measured using xenon-xenon (XeXe) collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.42 $\mu$b$^{-1}$, were collected in 2017 by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The yields are reported as functions of collision centrality and transverse momentum, $p_\mathrm{T}$, from 0.5 to 100 GeV. A previously reported $p_\mathrm{T}$ spectrum from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV is used for comparison after correcting for the difference in center-of-mass energy. The nuclear modification factors using this reference, $R_\mathrm{AA}^*$, are constructed and compared to previous measurements and theoretical predictions. In head-on collisions, the $R_\mathrm{AA}^*$ has a value of 0.17 in the $p_\mathrm{T}$ range of 6-8 GeV, but increases to approximately 0.7 at 100 GeV. Above $\approx$ 6 GeV, the XeXe data show a notably smaller suppression than previous results for lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV when compared at the same centrality (i.e., the same fraction of total cross section). However, the XeXe suppression is slightly greater than that for PbPb in events having a similar number of participating nucleons.
The transverse energy ($E_\mathrm{T}^{\gamma}$) spectra of photons isolated from other particles are measured using proton-proton (pp) and lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at the LHC at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV with integrated luminosities of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$and 404 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ for pp and PbPb data, respectively. The results are presented for photons with 25 $<$ $E_\mathrm{T}^{\gamma}$ $<$ 200 GeV in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|$ $<$ 1.44, and for different centrality intervals for PbPb collisions. Photon production in PbPb collisions is consistent with that in pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, demonstrating that photons do not interact with the quark-gluon plasma. Therefore, isolated photons can provide information about the initial energy of the associated parton in photon+jet measurements. The results are compared with predictions from the next-to-leading-order JETPHOX generator for different parton distribution functions (PDFs) and nuclear PDFs (nPDFs). The comparisons can help to constrain the nPDFs global fits.
The nuclear modification factors of J/$\psi$ and $\psi$(2S) mesons are measured in PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV. The analysis is based on PbPb and pp data samples collected by CMS at the LHC in 2015, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 464 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ and 28 pb$^{-1}$, respectively. The measurements are performed in the dimuon rapidity range of $|y| <$ 2.4 as a function of centrality, rapidity, and transverse momentum (p$_\mathrm{T}$) from p$_\mathrm{T}=$ 3 GeV/$c$ in the most forward region and up to 50 GeV/$c$. Both prompt and nonprompt (coming from b hadron decays) mesons are observed to be increasingly suppressed with centrality, with a magnitude similar to the one observed at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=$ 2.76 TeV for the two J/$\psi$ meson components. No dependence on rapidity is observed for either prompt or nonprompt J/$\psi$ mesons. An indication of a lower prompt J/$\psi$ meson suppression at p$_\mathrm{T} >$ 25 GeV/$c$ is seen with respect to that observed at intermediate p$_\mathrm{T}$. The prompt $\psi$(2S) meson yield is found to be more suppressed than that of the prompt J/$\psi$ mesons in the entire p$_\mathrm{T}$ range.