The observation of the production of four top quarks in proton-proton collisions is reported, based on a data sample collected by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016-2018 at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events with two same-sign, three, or four charged leptons (electrons and muons) and additional jets are analyzed. Compared to previous results in these channels, updated identification techniques for charged leptons and jets originating from the hadronization of b quarks, as well as a revised multivariate analysis strategy to distinguish the signal process from the main backgrounds, lead to an improved expected signal significance of 4.9 standard deviations above the background-only hypothesis. Four top quark production is observed with a significance of 5.6 standard deviations, and its cross section is measured to be 17.7 $^{+3.7}_{-3.5}$ (stat) $^{+2.3}_{-1.9}$ (syst) fb, in agreement with the available standard model predictions.

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.

The production cross section of a top quark pair in association with a photon is measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, was recorded by the CMS experiment during the 2016-2018 data taking of the LHC. The measurements are performed in a fiducial volume defined at the particle level. Events with an isolated, highly energetic lepton, at least three jets from the hadronization of quarks, among which at least one is b tagged, and one isolated photon are selected. The inclusive fiducial $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}\gamma$ cross section, for a photon with transverse momentum greater than 20 GeV and pseudorapidity $\lvert \eta\rvert$$\lt$ 1.4442, is measured to be 798 $\pm$ 7 (stat) $\pm$ 48 (syst) fb, in good agreement with the prediction from the standard model at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. The differential cross sections are also measured as a function of several kinematic observables and interpreted in the framework of the standard model effective field theory (EFT), leading to the most stringent direct limits to date on anomalous electromagnetic dipole moment interactions of the top quark and the photon.

Angular distributions of the decay B$^+$$\to$ K$^*$(892)$^+\mu^+\mu^-$ are studied using events collected with the CMS detector in $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.0 fb$^{-1}$. The forward-backward asymmetry of the muons and the longitudinal polarization of the K$^*$(892)$^+$ meson are determined as a function of the square of the dimuon invariant mass. These are the first results from this exclusive decay mode and are in agreement with a standard model prediction.

A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three charged leptons (electrons or muons) is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016-2018. The two targeted signal processes are pair production of type-III seesaw heavy fermions and production of a light scalar or pseudoscalar boson in association with a pair of top quarks. The heavy fermions may be manifested as an excess of events with large values of leptonic transverse momenta or missing transverse momentum. The light scalars or pseudoscalars may create a localized excess in the dilepton mass spectra. The results exclude heavy fermions of the type-III seesaw model for masses below 880 GeV at 95% confidence level in the scenario of equal branching fractions to each lepton flavor. This is the most restrictive limit on the flavor-democratic scenario of the type-III seesaw model to date. Assuming a Yukawa coupling of unit strength to top quarks, branching fractions of new scalar (pseudoscalar) bosons to dielectrons or dimuons above 0.004 (0.03) and 0.04 (0.03) are excluded at 95% confidence level for masses in the range 15-75 and 108-340 GeV, respectively. These are the first limits in these channels on an extension of the standard model with scalar or pseudoscalar particles.

Results on $\phi$ meson production in inelastic p+p collisions at CERN SPS energies are presented. They are derived from data collected by the NA61/SHINE fixed target experiment, by means of invariant mass spectra fits in the $\phi \to K^+K^-$ decay channel. They include the first ever measured double differential spectra of $\phi$ mesons as a function of rapidity $y$ and transverse momentum $p_T$ for proton beam momenta of 80 GeV/c and 158 GeV/c, as well as single differential spectra of $y$ or $p_T$ for beam momentum of 40 GeV/c. The corresponding total $\phi$ yields per inelastic p+p event are obtained. These results are compared with existing data on $\phi$ meson production in p+p collisions. The comparison shows consistency but superior accuracy of the present measurements. The emission of $\phi$ mesons in p+p reactions is confronted with that occurring in Pb+Pb collisions, and the experimental results are compared with model predictions. It appears that none of the considered models can properly describe all the experimental observables.

Three of the most significant measured deviations from standard model predictions, the enhanced decay rate for B $\to$ D$^{(*)}\tau\nu$, hints of lepton universality violation in B $\to$ K$^{(*)}\ell\ell$ decays, and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, can be explained by the existence of leptoquarks (LQs) with large couplings to third-generation quarks and masses at the TeV scale. The existence of these states can be probed at the LHC in high energy proton-proton collisions. A novel search is presented for pair production of LQs coupled to a top quark and a muon using data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the CMS experiment. No deviation from the standard model prediction has been observed and scalar LQs decaying exclusively into t$\mu$ are excluded up to masses of 1420 GeV. The results of this search are combined with those from previous searches for LQ decays into t$\tau$ and b$\nu$, which excluded scalar LQs below masses of 900 and 1080 GeV. Vector LQs are excluded up to masses of 1190 GeV for all possible combinations of branching fractions to t$\mu$, t$\tau$ and b$\nu$. With this analysis, all relevant couplings of LQs with an electric charge of -1/3 to third-generation quarks are probed for the first time.

A first measurement of the top quark mass using the decay channel t to (W to l nu) (b to J/psi + X to mu+ mu- + X) is presented. The analysis uses events selected from the proton-proton collisions recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, with 666 t t-bar and single top quark candidate events containing a reconstructed J/psi candidate decaying into an oppositely-charged muon pair. The mass of the (J/psi + l) system, where l is an electron or a muon from W boson decay, is used to extract a top quark mass of 173.5 +/- 3.0 (stat) +/- 0.9 (syst) GeV.

Results are reported from a search for supersymmetric particles in proton-proton collisions in the final state with a single, high transverse momentum lepton; multiple jets, including at least one b-tagged jet; and large missing transverse momentum. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The search focuses on processes leading to high jet multiplicities, such as gluino pair production with gluinos to t t-bar neutralino[1]. The quantity M[J], defined as the sum of the masses of the large-radius jets in the event, is used in conjunction with other kinematic variables to provide discrimination between signal and background and as a key part of the background estimation method. The observed event yields in the signal regions in data are consistent with those expected for standard model backgrounds, estimated from control regions in data. Exclusion limits are obtained for a simplified model corresponding to gluino pair production with three-body decays into top quarks and neutralinos. Gluinos with a mass below 1600 GeV are excluded at a 95% confidence level for scenarios with low neutralino[1] mass, and neutralinos with a mass below 800 GeV are excluded for a gluino mass of about 1300 GeV. For models with two-body gluino decays producing on-shell top squarks, the excluded region is only weakly sensitive to the top squark mass.

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t t-bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95% confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg to X) B(X to HH to b b-bar b b-bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with a mass scale Lambda[R] = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV.