The second- and third-order azimuthal anisotropy Fourier harmonics of charged particles produced in pPb collisions, at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 8.16 TeV, are studied over a wide range of event multiplicities. Multiparticle correlations are used to isolate global properties stemming from the collision overlap geometry. The second-order "elliptic" harmonic moment is obtained with high precision through four-, six-, and eight-particle correlations and, for the first time, the third-order "triangular" harmonic moment is studied using four-particle correlations. A sample of peripheral PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV that covers a similar range of event multiplicities as the pPb results is also analyzed. Model calculations of initial-state fluctuations in pPb and PbPb collisions can be directly compared to the high precision experimental results. This work provides new insight into the fluctuation-driven origin of the $v_3$ coefficients in pPb and PbPb collisions, and into the dominating overall collision geometry in PbPb collisions at the earliest stages of heavy ion interactions.

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 prompt D$^0$ meson azimuthal anisotropy coefficients, $v_2$ and $v_3$, are measured at midrapidity ($|y| < 1.0$) in PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = $5.02 TeV per nucleon pair with data collected by the CMS experiment. The measurement is performed in the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) range of 1 to 40 GeV/c, for central and midcentral collisions. The $v_2$ coefficient is found to be positive throughout the $p_\mathrm{T}$ range studied. The first measurement of the prompt D$^0$ meson $v_3$ coefficient is performed, and values up to 0.07 are observed for $p_\mathrm{T}$ around 4 GeV/c. Compared to measurements of charged particles, a similar $p_\mathrm{T}$ dependence, but smaller magnitude for $p_\mathrm{T} < $6 GeV/c, is found for prompt D$^0$ meson $v_2$ and $v_3$ coefficients. The results are consistent with the presence of collective motion of charm quarks at low $p_\mathrm{T}$ and a path length dependence of charm quark energy loss at high $p_\mathrm{T}$, thereby providing new constraints on the theoretical description of the interactions between charm quarks and the quark-gluon plasma.

The first observation of top quark production in proton-nucleus collisions is reported using proton-lead data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s[NN]) = 8.16 TeV. The measurement is performed using events with exactly one isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 174 inverse nanobarns. The significance of the tt-bar signal against the background-only hypothesis is above five standard deviations. The measured cross section is sigma[tt-bar] = 45 +/- 8 nb, consistent with predictions from perturbative quantum chromodynamics.

The relative yields of $\Upsilon$ mesons produced in pp and PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV and reconstructed via the dimuon decay channel are measured using data collected by the CMS experiment. Double ratios are formed by comparing the yields of the excited states, $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S), to the ground state, $\Upsilon$(1S), in both PbPb and pp collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. The double ratios, [$\Upsilon$(nS)/$\Upsilon$(1S)]$_\mathrm{PbPb}$ / [$\Upsilon$(nS)/$\Upsilon$(1S)]$_\mathrm{pp}$, are measured to be 0.308 $\pm$ 0.055 (stat) $\pm$ 0.019 (syst) for the $\Upsilon$(2S) and less than 0.26 at 95% confidence level for the $\Upsilon$(3S). No significant $\Upsilon$(3S) signal is found in the PbPb data. The double ratios are studied as a function of collision centrality, as well as dimuon transverse momentum and rapidity. No significant dependencies are observed.

The differential production cross sections of B+/- mesons are measured via the exclusive decay channels B+/- to J/psi K+/- to mu+ mu- K+/- as a function of transverse momentum in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair with the CMS detector at the LHC. The pp (PbPb) dataset used for this analysis corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 28.0 inverse picobarns (351 inverse microbarns). The measurement is performed in the B+/- meson transverse momentum range of 7 to 50 GeV/c, in the rapidity interval abs(y) < 2.4. In this kinematic range, a strong suppression of the production cross section by about a factor of two is observed in the PbPb system in comparison to the expectation from pp reference data. These results are found to be roughly compatible with theoretical calculations incorporating beauty quark diffusion and energy loss in a quark-gluon plasma.

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 GeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.

Event-by-event fluctuations in the elliptic-flow coefficient $v_2$ are studied in PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}} = 5.02$ TeV using the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. Elliptic-flow probability distributions ${p}(v_2)$ for charged particles with transverse momentum 0.3$< p_\mathrm{T} <$3.0 GeV and pseudorapidity $| \eta | <$ 1.0 are determined for different collision centrality classes. The moments of the ${p}(v_2)$ distributions are used to calculate the $v_{2}$ coefficients based on cumulant orders 2, 4, 6, and 8. A rank ordering of the higher-order cumulant results and nonzero standardized skewness values obtained for the ${p}(v_2)$ distributions indicate non-Gaussian initial-state fluctuation behavior. Bessel-Gaussian and elliptic power fits to the flow distributions are studied to characterize the initial-state spatial anisotropy.

Measurements of azimuthal angle and transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) correlations of isolated photons and associated jets are reported for pp and PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} =$ 5.02 TeV. The data were recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. For events containing a leading isolated photon with $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma >$ 40 GeV$/c$ and an associated jet with $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet} >$ 30 GeV$/c$, the photon+jet azimuthal correlation and $p_\mathrm{T}$ imbalance in PbPb collisions are studied as functions of collision centrality and $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$. The results are compared to pp reference data collected at the same collision energy and to predictions from several theoretical models for parton energy loss. No evidence of broadening of the photon+jet azimuthal correlations is observed, while the ratio $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet}/p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma$ decreases significantly for PbPb data relative to the pp reference. All models considered agree within uncertainties with the data. The number of associated jets per photon with $p_\mathrm{T}^\gamma >$ 80 GeV$/c$ is observed to be shifted towards lower $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{jet}$ values in central PbPb collisions compared to pp collisions.

Charge-dependent azimuthal correlations of same- and opposite-sign pairs with respect to the second- and third-order event planes have been measured in pPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =$ 8.16 TeV and PbPb collisions at 5.02 TeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurement is motivated by the search for the charge separation phenomenon predicted by the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in heavy ion collisions. Three- and two-particle azimuthal correlators are extracted as functions of the pseudorapidity difference, the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{t}$) difference, and the $p_\mathrm{t}$ average of same- and opposite-charge pairs in various event multiplicity ranges. The data suggest that the charge-dependent three-particle correlators with respect to the second- and third-order event planes share a common origin, predominantly arising from charge-dependent two-particle azimuthal correlations coupled with an anisotropic flow. The CME is expected to lead to a $v_2$-independent three-particle correlation when the magnetic field is fixed. Using an event shape engineering technique, upper limits on the $v_2$-independent fraction of the three-particle correlator are estimated to be 13% for pPb and 7% for PbPb collisions at 95% confidence level. The results of this analysis, both the dominance of two-particle correlations as a source of the three-particle results and the similarities seen between PbPb and pPb, provide stringent constraints on the origin of charge-dependent three-particle azimuthal correlations and challenge their interpretation as arising from a chiral magnetic effect in heavy ion collisions.

The azimuthal anisotropy Fourier coefficients ($v_n$) in 8.16 TeV pPb data are extracted via long-range two-particle correlations as a function of event multiplicity and compared to corresponding results in pp and PbPb collisions. Using a four-particle cumulant technique, $v_n$ correlations are measured for the first time in pp and pPb collisions. The $v_2$ and $v_4$ coefficients are found to be positively correlated in all collision systems. For high multiplicity pPb collisions an anticorrelation of $v_2$ and $v_3$ is observed, with a similar correlation strength as in PbPb data at the same multiplicity. The new correlation results strengthen the case for a common origin of the collectivity seen in pPb and PbPb collisions in the measured multiplicity range.

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.

The spectra of charged particles produced within the pseudorapidity window abs(eta) < 1 at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV are measured using 404 inverse microbarns of PbPb and 27.4 inverse picobarns of pp data collected by the CMS detector at the LHC in 2015. The spectra are presented over the transverse momentum ranges spanning 0.5 < pt < 400 GeV in pp and 0.7 < pt < 400 GeV in PbPb collisions. The corresponding nuclear modification factor, R[AA], is measured in bins of collision centrality. The R[AA] in the 5% most central collisions shows a maximal suppression by a factor of 7-8 in the pt region of 6-9 GeV. This dip is followed by an increase, which continues up to the highest pt measured, and approaches unity in the vicinity of pt = 200 GeV. The R[AA] is compared to theoretical predictions and earlier experimental results at lower collision energies. The newly measured pp spectrum is combined with the pPb spectrum previously published by the CMS Collaboration to construct the pPb nuclear modification factor, R[pA], up to 120 GeV. For pt > 20 GeV, R[pA] exhibits weak momentum dependence and shows a moderate enhancement above unity.

The CMS Collaboration presents the first measurement of the differential cross section of jets from charm quarks produced in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV, as well as results from charm quark jets in proton-proton (pp) collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV. By comparing the yields of the pPb and pp collision systems at the same energy, a nuclear modification factor for charm jets from 55 to 400 GeV/c in pPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV of R[pA] = 0.92 +/- 0.07 (stat) +/- 0.11 (syst) is obtained. This is consistent with an absence of final-state energy loss for charm quarks in pPb collisions. In addition, the fraction of jets coming from charm quarks is found to be consistent with that predicted by PYTHIA 6 for pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 2.76 and 5.02 TeV, and is independent of the jet transverse momentum from 55 to 400 GeV/c.

The production of jets in association with Z bosons, reconstructed via the mu+mu- and e+e- decay channels, is studied in pp and, for the first time, in PbPb collisions. Both data samples were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The PbPb collisions were analyzed in the 0-30% centrality range. The back-to-back azimuthal alignment was studied in both pp and PbPb collisions for Z bosons with transverse momentum p[tz] > 60 GeV/c and a recoiling jet with p[tj] > 30 GeV/c. The pt imbalance, x[jz] = p[tj] / p[tz], as well as the average number of jet partners per Z, R[jz], were studied in intervals of p[tz], in both pp and PbPb collisions. The R[jz] is found to be smaller in PbPb than in pp collisions, which suggests that in PbPb collisions a larger fraction of partons, associated with the Z bosons, lose energy and fall below the 30 GeV/c p[tj] threshold.

The relative modification of the prompt psi(2S) and J/psi yields from pp to PbPb collisions, at the center of mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair, is presented. The analysis is based on pp and PbPb data samples collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2015, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 28.0 inverse picobarns and 464 inverse microbarns, respectively. The double ratio of measured yields of prompt charmonia reconstructed through their decays into muon pairs, (N[psi(2S)]/N[J/psi])[PbPb] / (N[psi(2S)]/N[J/psi])[pp], is determined as a function of PbPb collision centrality and charmonium transverse momentum pt, in two kinematic intervals: abs(y) < 1.6 covering 6.5 < pt < 30 GeV/c and 1.6 < abs(y) < 2.4 covering 3 < pt < 30 GeV/c. The centrality-integrated double ratios are 0.36 +/- 0.08 (stat) +/-0.05 (syst) in the first interval and 0.24 +/- 0.22 (stat) +/- 0.09 (syst) in the second. The double ratio is lower than unity in all the measured bins, suggesting that the psi(2S) yield is more suppressed than the J/psi yield in the explored phase space.

This paper reports the measurement of J/psi meson production in proton-proton (pp) and proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The data samples used in the analysis correspond to integrated luminosities of 28 inverse picobarns and 35 inverse nanobarns for pp and pPb collisions, respectively. Prompt and nonprompt J/psi mesons, the latter produced from the decay of B mesons, are measured in their dimuon decay channels. Differential cross sections are measured in the transverse momentum range of 2 < pt < 30 GeV/c, and center-of-mass rapidity ranges of abs(y[CM]) < 2.4 (pp) and -2.87 < y[CM] < 1.93 (pPb). The nuclear modification factor, R[pPb], is measured as functions of both pt and y[CM]. Small modifications of the J/psi cross sections are observed in pPb relative to pp collisions. The ratio of J/psi production cross sections in p-going and Pb-going directions, R[FB], studied as functions of pt and y[CM], shows a significant decrease for increasing transverse energy deposited at large pseudorapidities. These results, which cover a wide kinematic range, provide new insight on the role of cold nuclear matter effects on prompt and nonprompt J/psi production.

For the first time a principle-component analysis is used to separate out different orthogonal modes of the two-particle correlation matrix from heavy ion collisions. The analysis uses data from sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV PbPb and sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV pPb collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Two-particle azimuthal correlations have been extensively used to study hydrodynamic flow in heavy ion collisions. Recently it has been shown that the expected factorization of two-particle results into a product of the constituent single-particle anisotropies is broken. The new information provided by these modes may shed light on the breakdown of flow factorization in heavy ion collisions. The first two modes ("leading" and "subleading") of two-particle correlations are presented for elliptical and triangular anisotropies in PbPb and pPb collisions as a function of pt over a wide range of event activity. The leading mode is found to be essentially equivalent to the anisotropy harmonic previously extracted from two-particle correlation methods. The subleading mode represents a new experimental observable and is shown to account for a large fraction of the factorization breaking recently observed at high transverse momentum. The principle-component analysis technique has also been applied to multiplicity fluctuations. These also show a subleading mode. The connection of these new results to previous studies of factorization is discussed.

Despite the f$_0$(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$) meson, a tetraquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f$_0$(980) state is an ordinary $\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies ($v_2$) with the number of constituent quarks ($n_\mathrm{q}$), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f$_0$(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f$_0$(980) $\to$$\pi^+\pi^-$, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and its $v_2$ is measured as a function of transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$). It is found that the $n_q$ = 2 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ state) hypothesis is favored over $n_q$ = 4 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$ or $\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$ states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 10, 8, or 6 GeV/$c$ ranges, respectively, and over $n_\mathrm{q}$ = 3 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$ hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 8 GeV/$c$ range. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f$_0$(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates.

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 production yields of Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S) quarkonium states are measured through their decays into muon pairs in the CMS detector, in PbPb and pp collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 2.76 TeV. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 166 inverse microbarns and 5.4 inverse picobarns for PbPb and pp collisions, respectively. Differential production cross sections are reported as functions of Upsilon rapidity y up to 2.4, and transverse momentum pT up to 20 GeV/c. A strong centrality-dependent suppression is observed in PbPb relative to pp collisions, by factors of up to approximately 2 and 8, for the Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) states, respectively. No significant dependence of this suppression is observed as a function of y or pT. The Upsilon(3S) state is not observed in PbPb collisions, which corresponds to a suppression for the centrality-integrated data by at least a factor of approximately 7 at a 95% confidence level. The observed suppression is in agreement with theoretical scenarios modeling the sequential melting of quarkonium states in a quark gluon plasma.

A search for partonic collective effects inside jets produced in proton-proton collisions is performed via correlation measurements of charged constituents using the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The analysis uses data collected at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm with a distance parameter of 0.8 and are required to have transverse momentum greater than 550 GeV and pseudorapidity $\lvert\eta\rvert$$\lt$ 1.6. Two-particle correlations among the charged constituents within the jets are studied as functions of the particles' azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity separations ($\Delta\phi^*$ and $\Delta\eta^*$) in a jet coordinate basis, where constituents' $\eta^*$, $\phi^*$ are defined relative to the direction of the jet. The correlation functions are studied in classes of in-jet charged-particle multiplicity up to $N_\text{ch}^\mathrm{j}$$\approx$ 100. Fourier harmonics are extracted from long-range azimuthal correlation functions to characterize azimuthal anisotropy for $\lvert\Delta\eta^*\rvert$$\gt$ 2. For low-multiplicity jets, the long-range elliptic anisotropic harmonic, $v^*_2$, is observed to decrease with $N_\text{ch}^\mathrm{j}$. This trend is well described by Monte Carlo event generators. However, a rising trend for $v^*_2$ emerges at $N_\text{ch}^\mathrm{j}$$\gtrsim$ 80, hinting at a possible onset of collective behavior, which is not reproduced by the models tested. This observation yields new insights into the dynamics of parton fragmentation processes in the vacuum.

Measurements of the charge-dependent two-particle angular correlation function in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV and lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at$\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are reported. The pPb and PbPb datasets correspond to integrated luminosities of 186\nbinv and 0.607 nb$^{-1}$, respectively, and were collected using the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The charge-dependent correlations are characterized by balance functions of same- and opposite-sign particle pairs. The balance functions, which contain information about the creation time of charged particle pairs and the development of collectivity, are studied as functions of relative pseudorapidity ($\Delta \eta$) and relative azimuthal angle ($\Delta \phi$), for various multiplicity and transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) intervals. A multiplicity dependence of the balance function is observed in $\Delta \eta$ and $\Delta \phi$ for both systems. The width of the balance functions decreases towards high-multiplicity collisions in the momentum region $\lt$2 GeV, for pPb and PbPb results. No multiplicity dependence is observed at higher transverse momentum. The data are compared with HYDJET, HIJING and AMPT generator predictions, none of which capture completely the multiplicity dependence seen in the data.

Ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions create a strongly interacting state of hot and dense quark-gluon matter that exhibits a remarkable collective flow behavior with minimal viscous dissipation. To gain deeper insights into its intrinsic nature and fundamental degrees of freedom, we extracted the speed of sound in this medium created using lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 0.607 nb$^{-1}$. The measurement is performed by studying the multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum of charged particles emitted in head-on PbPb collisions. Our findings reveal that the speed of sound in this matter is nearly half the speed of light, with a squared value of 0.241 $\pm$ 0.002 (stat) $\pm$ 0.016 (syst) in natural units. The effective medium temperature, estimated using the mean transverse momentum, is 219 $\pm$ 8 (syst) MeV. The measured squared speed of sound at this temperature aligns precisely with predictions from lattice quantum chromodynamic (QCD) calculations. This result provides a stringent constraint on the equation of state of the created medium and direct evidence for a deconfined QCD phase being attained in relativistic nuclear collisions.

Quasireal photons exchanged in relativistic heavy ion interactions are powerful probes of the gluonic structure of nuclei. The coherent J/$\psi$ photoproduction cross section in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions is measured as a function of photon-nucleus center-of-mass energies per nucleon (W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$), over a wide range of 40 $\lt$ W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\lt$ 400 GeV. Results are obtained using data at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.52 nb$^{-1}$. The cross section is observed to rise rapidly at low W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$, and plateau above W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\approx$ 40 GeV, up to 400 GeV, a new regime of small Bjorken-$x$ ($\approx$ 6 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$) gluons being probed in a heavy nucleus. The observed energy dependence is not predicted by current quantum chromodynamic models.