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.

A search for resonances and quantum black holes is performed using the dijet mass spectra measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. In a search for narrow resonances that couple to quark-quark, quark-gluon, or gluon-gluon pairs, model-independent upper limits, at 95% confidence level, are obtained on the production cross section of resonances, with masses above 1.2 TeV. When interpreted in the context of specific models the limits exclude: string resonances with masses below 5.0 TeV; excited quarks below 3.5 TeV; scalar diquarks below 4.7 TeV; W' bosons below 1.9 TeV or between 2.0 and 2.2 TeV; Z' bosons below 1.7 TeV; and Randall-Sundrum gravitons below 1.6 TeV. A separate search is conducted for narrow resonances that decay to final states including b quarks. The first exclusion limit is set for excited b quarks, with a lower mass limit between 1.2 and 1.6 TeV depending on their decay properties. Searches are also carried out for wide resonances, assuming for the first time width-to-mass ratios up to 30%, and for quantum black holes with a range of model parameters. The wide resonance search excludes axigluons and colorons with mass below 3.6 TeV, and color-octet scalars with mass below 2.5 TeV. Lower bounds between 5.0 and 6.3 TeV are set on the masses of quantum black holes.

Measurements of the top quark-antiquark (t t-bar) spin correlations and the top quark polarization are presented for t t-bar pairs produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using events with two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and two or more jets, where at least one of the jets is identified as originating from a bottom quark. The spin correlations and polarization are measured from the angular distributions of the two selected leptons, both inclusively and differentially, with respect to the invariant mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum of the t t-bar system. The measurements are unfolded to the parton level and found to be in agreement with predictions of the standard model. A search for new physics in the form of anomalous top quark chromo moments is performed. No evidence of new physics is observed, and exclusion limits on the real part of the chromo-magnetic dipole moment and the imaginary part of the chromo-electric dipole moment are evaluated.

A search is presented for the production of two Higgs bosons in final states containing two photons and two bottom quarks. Both resonant and nonresonant hypotheses are investigated. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV collected with the CMS detector. Good agreement is observed between data and predictions of the standard model (SM). Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on the production cross section of new particles and compared to the prediction for the existence of a warped extra dimension. When the decay to two Higgs bosons is kinematically allowed, assuming a mass scale Lambda[R] = 1 TeV for the model, the data exclude a radion scalar at masses below 980 GeV. The first Kaluza-Klein excitation mode of the graviton in the RS1 Randall-Sundrum model is excluded for masses between 325 and 450 GeV. An upper limit of 0.71 pb is set on the nonresonant two-Higgs-boson cross section in the SM-like hypothesis. Limits are also derived on nonresonant production assuming anomalous Higgs boson couplings.

The angular distributions and the differential branching fraction of the decay B0 to K*0(892) mu mu are studied using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.5 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. From 1430 signal decays, the forward-backward asymmetry of the muons, the K*0(892) longitudinal polarization fraction, and the differential branching fraction are determined as a function of the dimuon invariant mass squared. The measurements are among the most precise to date and are in good agreement with standard model predictions.

A search is performed for heavy Majorana neutrinos (N) decaying into a W boson and a lepton using the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. A signature of two jets and either two same sign electrons or a same sign electron-muon pair is searched for using 19.7 inverse femtobarns of data collected during 2012 in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data are found to be consistent with the expected standard model (SM) background and, in the context of a Type-1 seesaw mechanism, upper limits are set on the cross section times branching fraction for production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the mass range between 40 and 500 GeV. The results are additionally interpreted as limits on the mixing between the heavy Majorana neutrinos and the SM neutrinos. In the mass range considered, the upper limits range between 0.00015 - 0.72 for |V[eN]|^2 and 6.6E-5 - 0.47 for |V[eN] V*[muN]|^2 / ( |V[eN]|^2 + |V[muN]|^2 ), where V[lN] is the mixing element describing the mixing of the heavy neutrino with the SM neutrino of flavour l. These limits are the most restrictive direct limits for heavy Majorana neutrino masses above 200 GeV.

We present a measurement of b jet transverse momentum (pt) spectra in proton-lead (pPb) collisions using a dataset corresponding to about 35 inverse nanobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Jets from b quark fragmentation are found by exploiting the long lifetime of hadrons containing a b quark through tagging methods using distributions of the secondary vertex mass and displacement. Extracted cross sections for b jets are scaled by the effective number of nucleon-nucleon collisions and are compared to a reference obtained from PYTHIA simulations of pp collisions. The PYTHIA-based estimate of the nuclear modification factor is found to be 1.22 +/- 0.15 (stat + syst pPb) +/- 0.27 (syst PYTHIA) averaged over all jets with pt between 55 and 400 GeV/c and with abs(eta[lab]) < 2. We also compare this result to predictions from models using perturbative calculations in quantum chromodynamics.

A search is presented for particle dark matter produced in association with a pair of top quarks in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. This search requires the presence of one lepton, multiple jets, and large missing transverse energy. No excess of events is found above the SM expectation, and upper limits are derived on the production cross section. Interpreting the findings in the context of a scalar contact interaction between fermionic dark matter particles and top quarks, lower limits on the interaction scale are set. These limits are also interpreted in terms of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross sections for the spin-independent scalar operator and they complement direct searches for dark matter particles in the low mass region.

The result of a search for flavor changing neutral currents (FCNC) through single top quark production in association with a photon is presented. The study is based on proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV using data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. The search for t gamma events where t to Wb and W to mu nu is conducted in final states with a muon, a photon, at least one hadronic jet with at most one being consistent with originating from a bottom quark, and missing transverse momentum. No evidence of single top quark production in association with a photon through a FCNC is observed. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the tu gamma and tc gamma anomalous couplings and translated into upper limits on the branching fraction of the FCNC top quark decays: B(t to u gamma) < 1.3E-4 and B(t to c gamma) < 1.7E-3. Upper limits are also set on the cross section of associated t gamma production in a restricted phase-space region. These are the most stringent limits currently available.

Measurements of the cross sections for top quark pairs produced in association with a W or Z boson are presented, using 8 TeV pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Final states are selected in which the associated W boson decays to a charged lepton and a neutrino or the Z boson decays to two charged leptons. Signal events are identified by matching reconstructed objects in the detector to specific final state particles from ttW or ttZ decays. The ttW cross section is measured to be 382 +117 -102 fb with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations from the background-only hypothesis. The ttZ cross section is measured to be 242 +65 -55 fb with a significance of 6.4 standard deviations from the background-only hypothesis. These measurements are used to set bounds on five anomalous dimension-six operators that would affect the ttW and ttZ cross sections.