Measurements of the associated production of a W boson and a charm (c) quark in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV are reported. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm quark jets are selected using distinctive signatures of charm hadron decays. The product of the cross section and branching fraction $\sigma$(pp $\to$ W + c + X) $\mathcal{B}$(W $\to$$\ell\nu$), where $\ell$ = e or $\mu$, and the cross section ratio $\sigma$(pp $\to$ W$^+$ + c + X) / $\sigma$(pp $\to$ W$^-$ + $\mathrm{\bar{c}}$ + X) are measured inclusively and differentially as functions of the pseudorapidity and of the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W boson decay. The results are compared with theoretical predictions. The impact of these measurements on the determination of the strange quark distribution is assessed.

The WZ production cross section is measured by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9 inverse femtobarns collected at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV, and 19.6 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s)= 8 TeV. The measurements are performed using the fully-leptonic WZ decay modes with electrons and muons in the final state. The measured cross sections for 71 < m[Z] < 111 GeV are sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 7 TeV) = 20.14 +/- 1.32 (stat) +/- 1.13 (syst) +/- 0.44 (lumi) pb and sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 8 TeV) = 24.09 +/- 0.87 (stat) +/- 1.62 (syst) +/- 0.63 (lumi) pb. Differential cross sections with respect to the Z boson pt, the leading jet pt, and the number of jets are obtained using the sqrt(s)= 8 TeV data. The results are consistent with standard model predictions and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings are obtained.

Production cross sections of the Higgs boson are measured in the H $\to$ ZZ $\to$ $4\ell$ ($\ell$ $=$ e, $\mu$) decay channel. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ is used. The signal strength modifier $\mu$, defined as the ratio of the Higgs boson production rate in the $4\ell$ channel to the standard model (SM) expectation, is measured to be $\mu$ $=$ 0.94 $\pm$ 0.07 (stat) ${}^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$ (syst) at a fixed value of $m_H$ = 125.38 GeV. The signal strength modifiers for the individual Higgs boson production modes are also reported. The inclusive fiducial cross section for the H $\to$ $4\ell$ process is measured to be 2.84 $^{+0.23}_{-0.22}$ (stat) ${}^{+0.26}_{-0.21}$ (syst) fb, which is compatible with the SM prediction of 2.84 $\pm$ 0.15 fb for the same fiducial region. Differential cross sections as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of the Higgs boson, the number of associated jets, and the transverse momentum of the leading associated jet are measured. A new set of cross section measurements in mutually exclusive categories targeted to identify production mechanisms and kinematical features of the events is presented. The results are in agreement with the SM predictions.

Measurements of the associated production of a Z boson with at least one jet originating from a b quark in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are presented. Differential cross sections are measured with data collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. Z bosons are reconstructed through their decays to electrons and muons. Cross sections are measured as a function of observables characterizing the kinematics of the b jet and the Z boson. Ratios of differential cross sections for the associated production with at least one b jet to the associated production with any jet are also presented. The production of a Z boson with two b jets is investigated, and differential cross sections are measured for the dijet system. Results are compared to theoretical predictions, testing two different flavour schemes for the choice of initial-state partons.

The W+W- and ZZ production cross sections are measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC in data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 5.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurements are performed in the leptonic decay modes W+W- to l' nu l'' nu and ZZ to 2l 2l', where l = e, mu and l'(l'') = e, mu, tau. The measured cross sections sigma(pp to W+W-) = 69.9 +/- 2.8 (stat.) +/- 5.6 (syst.) +/- 3.1 (lumi.) pb and sigma(pp to ZZ) = 8.4 +/- 1.0 (stat.) +/- 0.7 (syst.) +/- 0.4 (lumi.) pb, for both Z bosons produced in the mass region 60 < m[Z] < 120 GeV, are consistent with standard model predictions. These are the first measurements of the diboson production cross sections at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV.

The observation of the standard model (SM) Higgs boson decay to a pair of bottom quarks is presented. The main contribution to this result is from processes in which Higgs bosons are produced in association with a W or Z boson (VH), and are searched for in final states including 0, 1, or 2 charged leptons and two identified bottom quark jets. The results from the measurement of these processes in a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment in 2017, comprising 41.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, are described. When combined with previous VH measurements using data collected at $\sqrt{s}=$ 7, 8, and 13 TeV, an excess of events is observed at $m_\mathrm{H} =$ 125.09 GeV with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations, where the expectation for the SM Higgs boson is 4.9. The corresponding measured signal strength is 1.01 $\pm$ 0.22. The combination of this result with searches by the CMS experiment for H $\to\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$ in other production processes yields an observed (expected) significance of 5.6 (5.5) standard deviations and a signal strength of 1.04 $\pm$ 0.20.

The production cross section of a W boson in association with two b jets is measured using a sample of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are reconstructed via their leptonic decays, W to l nu, where l = mu or e. The fiducial region studied contains exactly one lepton with transverse momentum pt[l] > 30 GeV and pseudorapidity abs(eta[l]) < 2.1, with exactly two b jets with pt > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.4 and no other jets with pt > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 4.7. The cross section is measured to be sigma(pp to W (l nu)+ bb-bar) = 0.64 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.10 (syst) +/- 0.06 (theo) +/- 0.02 (lumi) pb, in agreement with standard model predictions.

A measurement is presented of the cross section for the electroweak production of a Z boson and a photon in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)= 8 TeV. The Z bosons are identified through their decays to electron or muon pairs. The measurement is based on data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The electroweak contribution has a significance of 3.0 standard deviations, and the measured fiducial cross section is 1.86 +0.90/-0.75 (stat) +0.34/-0.26 (syst) +/- 0.05 (lumi) fb, while the summed electroweak and quantum chromodynamic total cross section in the same region is observed to be 5.94 +1.53/-1.35 (stat) +0.43/-0.37 (syst) +/- 0.13 (lumi) fb. Both measurements are consistent with the leading-order standard model predictions. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set based on the Z gamma mass distribution.

A measurement of electroweak-induced production of W gamma and two jets is performed, where the W boson decays leptonically. The data used in the analysis correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected by the CMS experiment in sqrt(s) = 8 TeV proton-proton collisions produced at the LHC. Candidate events are selected with exactly one muon or electron, missing transverse momentum, one photon, and two jets with large rapidity separation. An excess over the hypothesis of the standard model without electroweak production of W gamma with two jets is observed with a significance of 2.7 standard deviations. The cross section measured in the fiducial region is 10.8 +/- 4.1 (stat) +/- 3.4 (syst) +/- 0.3 (lumi) fb, which is consistent with the standard model electroweak predictions. The total cross section for W gamma production in association with 2 jets in the same fiducial region is measured to be 23.2 +/- 4.3 (stat) +/- 1.7 (syst) +/- 0.6 (lumi) fb, which is consistent with the standard model prediction from the combination of electroweak- and quantum chromodynamics-induced processes. No deviations are observed from the standard model predictions and experimental limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings f[M, 0-7] / Lambda^4, f[T, 0-2] / Lambda^4, and f[T, 5-7] / Lambda^4 are set at 95% confidence level.

Differential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are identified through their decay mode W to mu nu. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) for different jet multiplicities. Distributions of the angular correlations between the jets and the muon are examined, as well as the average number of jets as a function of HT and as a function of angular variables. The measured differential cross sections are compared with tree-level and higher-order recent event generators, as well as next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions. The agreement of the generators with the measurements builds confidence in their use for the simulation of W+jets background processes in searches for new physics at the LHC.