Measurement of the fiducial inclusive and differential production cross sections of the Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV are performed using events where the Higgs boson decays into a pair of W bosons that subsequently decay into a final state with an electron, a muon, and a pair of neutrinos. The analysis is based on data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC during 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. Production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the Higgs boson and the associated jet multiplicity. The Higgs boson signal is extracted and simultaneously unfolded to correct for selection efficiency and resolution effects using maximum-likelihood fits to the observed distributions in data. The integrated fiducial cross section is measured to be 86.5 $\pm$ 9.5 fb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 82.5 $\pm$ 4.2 fb. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectations is observed in the differential measurements.

A search is presented for single production of a vector-like T quark with charge 2/3 $e$, in the decay channel featuring a top quark and a Z boson, with the top quark decaying hadronically and the Z boson decaying to neutrinos. The search uses data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ recorded at the CERN LHC in 2016-2018. The search is sensitive to a T quark mass between 0.6 and 1.8 TeV with decay widths ranging from negligibly small up to 30% of the T quark mass. Reconstruction strategies for the top quark are based on the degree of Lorentz boosting of its final state. At 95% confidence level, the upper limit on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for a T quark of small decay width varies between 15 and 602 fb, depending on its mass. For a T quark with decay widths between 10 and 30% of its mass, this upper limit ranges between 16 and 836 fb. For most of the studied range, the results provide the best limits to date. This is the first search for single T quark production based on the full Run 2 data set of the LHC.

Central exclusive and semiexclusive production of $\pi^+\pi^-$ pairs is measured with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at center-of-mass energies of 5.02 and 13 TeV. The theoretical description of these nonperturbative processes, which have not yet been measured in detail at the LHC, poses a significant challenge to models. The two pions are measured and identified in the CMS silicon tracker based on specific energy loss, whereas the absence of other particles is ensured by calorimeter information. The total and differential cross sections of exclusive and semiexclusive central $\pi^+\pi^-$ production are measured as functions of invariant mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity of the $\pi^+\pi^-$ system in the fiducial region defined as transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}(\pi)$ $>$ 0.2 GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta(\pi)|$ $<$ 2.4. The production cross sections for the four resonant channels f$_0(500)$, $\rho^0(770)$, f$_0(980)$, and f$_2(1270)$ are extracted using a simple model. These results represent the first measurement of this process at the LHC collision energies of 5.02 and 13 TeV.

Evidence for Higgs boson decay to a pair of muons is presented. This result combines searches in four exclusive categories targeting the production of the Higgs boson via gluon fusion, via vector boson fusion, in association with a vector boson, and in association with a top quark-antiquark pair. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. An excess of events over the background expectation is observed in data with a significance of 3.0 standard deviations, where the expectation for the standard model (SM) Higgs boson with mass of 125.38 GeV is 2.5. The combination of this result with that from data recorded at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and 19.7 fb$^{-1}$, respectively, increases both the expected and observed significances by 1%. The measured signal strength, relative to the SM prediction, is 1.19 $^{+0.40}_{-0.39}$ (stat) $^{+0.15}_{-0.14}$ (syst). This result constitutes the first evidence for the decay of the Higgs boson to second generation fermions and is the most precise measurement of the Higgs boson coupling to muons reported to date.

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 presented for a narrow resonance decaying to a pair of oppositely charged muons using $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC. In the 45-75 and 110-200 GeV resonance mass ranges, the search is based on conventional triggering and event reconstruction techniques. In the 11.5-45 GeV mass range, the search uses data collected with dimuon triggers with low transverse momentum thresholds, recorded at high rate by storing a reduced amount of trigger-level information. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 137 fb$^{-1}$ and 96.6 fb$^{-1}$ for conventional and high-rate triggering, respectively. No significant resonant peaks are observed in the probed mass ranges. The search sets the most stringent constraints to date on a dark photon in the $\sim$30-75 and 110-200 GeV mass ranges.

A search for a heavy resonance decaying to a top quark and a W boson in the fully hadronic final state is presented. The analysis is performed using data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The search is focused on heavy resonances, where the decay products of each top quark or W boson are expected to be reconstructed as a single, large-radius jet with a distinct substructure. The production of an excited bottom quark, b*, is used as a benchmark when setting limits on the cross section for a heavy resonance decaying to a top quark and a W boson. The hypotheses of b* quarks with left-handed, right-handed, and vector-like chiralities are excluded at 95% confidence level for masses below 2.6, 2.8, and 3.1 TeV, respectively. These are the most stringent limits on the b* quark mass to date, extending the previous best limits by almost a factor of two.

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.

The path-length dependent parton energy loss within the dense partonic medium created in lead-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV is studied by determining the azimuthal anisotropies for dijets with high transverse momentum. The data were collected by the CMS experiment in 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.69 nb$^{-1}$. For events containing back-to-back jets, correlations in relative azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity ($\eta$) between jets and hadrons, and between two hadrons, are constructed. The anisotropies are expressed as the Fourier expansion coefficients $v_n$, $n = $ 2-4 of these azimuthal distributions. The dijet $v_n$ values are extracted from long-range (1.5 $\lt$$\vert\Delta\eta\vert$$\lt$ 2.5) components of these correlations, which suppresses the background contributions from jet fragmentation processes. Positive dijet $v_2$ values are observed which increase from central to more peripheral events, while the $v_3$ and $v_4$ values are consistent with zero within experimental uncertainties.

A search for pairs of dijet resonances with the same mass is conducted in final states with at least four jets. Results are presented separately for the case where the four jet production proceeds via an intermediate resonant state and for nonresonant production. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. Model-independent limits, at 95% confidence level, are reported on the production cross section of four-jet and dijet resonances. These first LHC limits on resonant pair production of dijet resonances via high mass intermediate states are applied to a signal model of diquarks that decay into pairs of vector-like quarks, excluding diquark masses below 7.6 TeV for a particular model scenario. There are two events in the tails of the distributions, each with a four-jet mass of 8 TeV and an average dijet mass of 2 TeV, resulting in local and global significances of 3.9 and 1.6 standard deviations, respectively, if interpreted as a signal. The nonresonant search excludes pair production of top squarks with masses between 0.50 TeV to 0.77 TeV, with the exception of a small interval between 0.52 and 0.58 TeV, for supersymmetric $R$-parity-violating decays to quark pairs, significantly extending previous limits. Here, the most significant excess above the predicted background occurs at an average dijet mass of 0.95 TeV, for which the local and global significances are 3.6 and 2.5 standard deviations, respectively.