A search for decays to invisible particles of Higgs bosons produced in association with a top-antitop quark pair or a vector boson, which both decay to a fully hadronic final state, has been performed using proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The 95% confidence level upper limit set on the branching fraction of the 125 GeV Higgs boson to invisible particles, $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ inv), is 0.54 (0.39 expected), assuming standard model production cross sections. The results of this analysis are combined with previous $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ inv) searches carried out at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7, 8, and 13 TeV in complementary production modes. The combined upper limit at 95% confidence level on $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$ inv) is 0.15 (0.08 expected).

A search for the lepton-flavor violating decay of the Higgs boson and potential additional Higgs bosons with a mass in the range 110-160 GeV to an e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ pair is presented. The search is performed with a proton-proton collision dataset at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. No excess is observed for the Higgs boson. The observed (expected) upper limit on the e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ branching fraction for it is determined to be 4.4 (4.7) $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ at 95% confidence level, the most stringent limit set thus far from direct searches. The largest excess of events over the expected background in the full mass range of the search is observed at an e$^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ invariant mass of approximately 146 GeV with a local (global) significance of 3.8 (2.8) standard deviations.

A search for the production of a top quark in association with a photon and additional jets via flavor changing neutral current interactions is presented. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The search is performed by looking for processes where a single top quark is produced in association with a photon, or a pair of top quarks where one of the top quarks decays into a photon and an up or charm quark. Events with an electron or a muon, a photon, one or more jets, and missing transverse momentum are selected. Multivariate analysis techniques are used to discriminate signal and standard model background processes. No significant deviation is observed over the predicted background. Observed (expected) upper limits are set on the branching fractions of top quark decays: $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ u$\gamma$) $\lt$ 0.95 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ (1.20 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$) and $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ c$\gamma$) $\lt$ 1.51 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ (1.54 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$) at 95% confidence level, assuming a single nonzero coupling at a time. The obtained limit for $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ u$\gamma$) is similar to the current best limit, while the limit for $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ c$\gamma$) is significantly tighter than previous results.

A search is described for the production of a pair of bottom-type vector-like quarks (VLQs), each decaying into a b or $\mathrm{\bar{b}}$ quark and either a Higgs or a Z boson, with a mass greater than 1000 GeV. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a 13 TeV center-of-mass energy recorded at the CERN LHC, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. As the predominant decay modes of the Higgs and Z bosons are to a pair of quarks, the analysis focuses on final states consisting of jets resulting from the six quarks produced in the events. Since the two jets produced in the decay of a highly Lorentz-boosted Higgs or Z boson can merge to form a single jet, nine independent analyses are performed, categorized by the number of observed jets and the reconstructed event mode. No signal in excess of the expected background is observed. Lower limits are set on the VLQ mass at 95% confidence level equal to 1570 GeV in the case where the VLQ decays exclusively to a b quark and a Higgs boson, 1390 GeV for when it decays exclusively to a b quark and a Z boson, and 1450 GeV for when it decays equally in these two modes. These limits represent significant improvements over the previously published VLQ limits.

A search is reported for pairs of light Higgs bosons (H$_1$) produced in supersymmetric cascade decays in final states with small missing transverse momentum. A data set of LHC pp collisions collected with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ is used. The search targets events where both H$_1$ bosons decay into $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ pairs that are reconstructed as large-radius jets using substructure techniques. No evidence is found for an excess of events beyond the background expectations of the standard model (SM). Results from the search are interpreted in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM, where a "singlino" of small mass leads to squark and gluino cascade decays that can predominantly end in a highly Lorentz-boosted singlet-like H$_1$ and a singlino-like neutralino of small transverse momentum. Upper limits are set on the product of the squark or gluino pair production cross section and the square of the $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ branching fraction of the H$_1$ in a benchmark model containing almost mass-degenerate gluinos and light-flavour squarks. Under the assumption of an SM-like H$_1$$\to$$\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ branching fraction, H$_1$ bosons with masses in the range 40-120 GeV arising from the decays of squarks or gluinos with a mass of 1200 to 2500 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

The production of Z boson pairs in proton-proton (pp) collisions, pp $\to$ (Z/$\gamma^*$)(Z/$\gamma^*$) $\to$ 2$\ell$ 2$\ell'$, where $\ell,\ell'$ = e or $\mu$, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, collected during 2016-2018. The ZZ production cross section, $\sigma_{\text{tot}}$ (pp $\to$ ZZ) = 17.2 $\pm$ 0.3 (stat) $\pm$ 0.5 (syst) $\pm$ 0.4 (theo) $\pm$ 0.3 (lumi) pb, measured for events with two pairs of opposite-sign, same-flavor leptons produced in the mass region 60 $\lt$ $m_{\ell^+\ell^-}$ $\lt $ 120 GeV is consistent with standard model predictions. Differential cross sections are also measured and agree with theoretical predictions. The invariant mass distribution of the four-lepton system is used to set limits on anomalous ZZZ and ZZ$\gamma$ couplings.

A search for new physics in events with two highly Lorentz-boosted Z bosons and large missing transverse momentum is presented. The analyzed proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, were recorded at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The search utilizes the substructure of jets with large radius to identify quark pairs from Z boson decays. Backgrounds from standard model processes are suppressed by requirements on the jet mass and the missing transverse momentum. No significant excess in the event yield is observed beyond the number of background events expected from the standard model. For a simplified supersymmetric model in which the Z bosons arise from the decay of gluinos, an exclusion limit of 1920 GeV on the gluino mass is set at 95% confidence level. This is the first search for beyond-standard-model production of pairs of boosted Z bosons plus large missing transverse momentum.

The production cross section of a top quark pair in association with a photon is measured in proton-proton collisions in the decay channel with two oppositely charged leptons (e$^\pm\mu^\mp$, e$^+$e$^-$, or $\mu^+\mu^-$). The measurement is performed using 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV during the 2016-2018 data-taking period of the CERN LHC. A fiducial phase space is defined such that photons radiated by initial-state particles, top quarks, or any of their decay products are included. An inclusive cross section of 175.2 $\pm$ 2.5 (stat) $\pm$ 6.3 (syst) fb is measured in a signal region with at least one jet coming from the hadronization of a bottom quark and exactly one photon with transverse momentum above 20 GeV. Differential cross sections are measured as functions of several kinematic observables of the photon, leptons, and jets, and compared to standard model predictions. The measurements are also interpreted in the standard model effective field theory framework, and limits are found on the relevant Wilson coefficients from these results alone and in combination with a previous CMS measurement of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}\gamma$ production process using the lepton+jets final state.

A search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced via vector boson fusion (VBF) has been performed with 101 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV and collected by the CMS detector in 2017 and 2018. The sensitivity to the VBF production mechanism is enhanced by constructing two analysis categories, one based on missing transverse momentum, and a second based on the properties of jets. In addition to control regions with Z and W boson candidate events, a highly populated control region, based on the production of a photon in association with jets, is used to constrain the dominant irreducible background from the invisible decay of a Z boson produced in association with jets. The results of this search are combined with all previous measurements in the VBF topology, based on data collected in 2012 (at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV), 2015, and 2016, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7, 2.3, and 36.3 fb$^{-1}$, respectively. The observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction of the Higgs boson is found to be 0.18 (0.10) at the 95% confidence level, assuming the standard model production cross section. The results are also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal models.

The first collider search for dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector is presented and uses a data sample corresponding to 138 fb$^{-1}$, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The hidden sector is hypothesized to couple to the standard model (SM) via a heavy leptophobic Z' mediator produced as a resonance in proton-proton collisions. The mediator decay results in two "semivisible" jets, containing both visible matter and invisible dark matter. The final state therefore includes moderate missing energy aligned with one of the jets, a signature ignored by most dark matter searches. No structure in the dijet transverse mass spectra compatible with the signal is observed. Assuming the Z' has a universal coupling of 0.25 to the SM quarks, an inclusive search, relevant to any model that exhibits this kinematic behavior, excludes mediator masses of 1.5-4.0 TeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the other signal model parameters. To enhance the sensitivity of the search for this particular class of hidden sector models, a boosted decision tree (BDT) is trained using jet substructure variables to distinguish between semivisible jets and SM jets from background processes. When the BDT is employed to identify each jet in the dijet system as semivisible, the mediator mass exclusion increases to 5.1 TeV, for wider ranges of the other signal model parameters. These limits exclude a wide range of strongly coupled hidden sector models for the first time.