Inclusive and differential cross sections of single top quark production in association with a Z boson are measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment. Events are selected based on the presence of three leptons, electrons or muons, associated with leptonic Z boson and top quark decays. The measurement yields an inclusive cross section of 87.9 $_{-7.3}^{+7.5}$ (stat) $_{-6.0}^{+7.3}$ (syst) fb for a dilepton invariant mass greater than 30 GeV, in agreement with standard model (SM) calculations and the most precise determination to date. The ratio between the cross sections for the top quark and the top antiquark production in association with a Z boson is measured as 2.37 $_{-0.42}^{+0.56}$ (stat) ${}_{-0.13}^{+0.27}$ (syst). Differential measurements at parton and particle levels are performed for the first time. Several kinematic observables are considered to study the modeling of the process. Results are compared to theoretical predictions with different assumptions on the source of the initial-state b quark and found to be in agreement, within the uncertainties. Additionally, the spin asymmetry, which is sensitive to the top quark polarization, is determined from the differential distribution of the polarization angle at parton level to be 0.54 $\pm$ 0.16 (stat) $\pm$ 0.06 (syst), in agreement with SM predictions.
Likelihood scan of the top quark spin asymmetry.
We present a measurement of the cross section and transverse single-spin asymmetry ($A_N$) for $\eta$ mesons at large pseudorapidity from $\sqrt{s}=200$~GeV $p^{\uparrow}+p$ collisions. The measured cross section for $0.5<p_T<5.0$~GeV/$c$ and $3.0<|\eta|<3.8$ is well described by a next-to-leading-order perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics calculation. The asymmetries $A_N$ have been measured as a function of Feynman-$x$ ($x_F$) from $0.2<|x_{F}|<0.7$, as well as transverse momentum ($p_T$) from $1.0<p_T<4.5$~GeV/$c$. The asymmetry averaged over positive $x_F$ is $\langle{A_{N}}\rangle=0.061{\pm}0.014$. The results are consistent with prior transverse single-spin measurements of forward $\eta$ and $\pi^{0}$ mesons at various energies in overlapping $x_F$ ranges. Comparison of different particle species can help to determine the origin of the large observed asymmetries in $p^{\uparrow}+p$ collisions.
ASYM(PEAK) and ASYM(BG) for ETA mesons measured as a function of XF in the range 0.3 < ABS(XF) < 0.7 from the 4X4B triggered dataset. The values represented are the weighted mean of the South and North MPC (Muon Piston Calorimeter). The uncertainties listed are statistical only.
ASYM for ETA mesons measured as a function of XF in the range 0.2 < ABS(XF) < 0.7. Uncertainties listed are those due to the statistics, the XF uncorrelated uncertainties due to extracting the yields, and the correlated relative luminosity uncertainty.
ASYM for ETA mesons measured as a function of PT for ABS(XF) > 0.2. Uncertainties listed are those due to the statistics, the PT uncorrelated uncertainties due to extracting ASYM, and the correlated relative luminosity uncertainty.
A measurement is presented of differential cross sections for $t$-channel single top quark and antiquark production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. From a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$, events containing one muon or electron and two or three jets are analysed. The cross section is measured as a function of the top quark transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$), rapidity, and polarisation angle, the charged lepton $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity, and the $p_\mathrm{T}$ of the W boson from the top quark decay. In addition, the charge ratio is measured differentially as a function of the top quark, charged lepton, and W boson kinematic observables. The results are found to be in agreement with standard model predictions using various next-to-leading-order event generators and sets of parton distribution functions. Additionally, the spin asymmetry, sensitive to the top quark polarisation, is determined from the differential distribution of the polarisation angle at parton level to be 0.440 $\pm$ 0.070, in agreement with the standard model prediction.
Top quark spin asymmetry at the parton level in the muon and electron channel and their combination
We report the first measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry $A_{LL}$ for mid-rapidity di-jet production in polarized $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. The di-jet cross section was measured and is shown to be consistent with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD predictions. $A_{LL}$ results are presented for two distinct topologies, defined by the jet pseudorapidities, and are compared to predictions from several recent NLO global analyses. The measured asymmetries, the first such correlation measurements, support those analyses that find positive gluon polarization at the level of roughly 0.2 over the region of Bjorken-$x > 0.05$.
Di-jet A_LL asymmetry vs parton-level invariant mass for the same-sign di-jet topology. The systematic uncertainty on the mass includes contributions from jet energy scale, the correction to parton-level, and the difference between NLO and PYTHIA cross sections. The systematic uncertainty on the asymmetry includes contributions from trigger and reconstruction bias and residual transverse beam polarization components. A 6.5% uncertainty common to all points due to uncertainty on the measured beam polarizations is also present, but not included in the uncertainties quoted below.
Theoretical predictions for the di-jet A_LL asymmetry for the same-sign topology using the DSSV14 and NNPDFpol1.1 polarized PDF sets. The DSSV14 prediction is presented without uncertainty while the systematic uncertainty on the NNPDFpol1.1 prediction contains contributions from factorization and renormalization scale uncertainties and PDF uncertainties.
Di-jet A_LL asymmetry vs parton-level invariant mass for the opposite-sign di-jet topology. The systematic uncertainty on the mass includes contributions from jet energy scale, the correction to parton-level, and the difference between NLO and PYTHIA cross sections. The systematic uncertainty on the asymmetry includes contributions from trigger and reconstruction bias and residual transverse beam polarization components. A 6.5% uncertainty common to all points due to uncertainty on the measured beam polarizations is also present, but not included in the uncertainties quoted below.
We present the midrapidity charged pion invariant cross sections and the ratio of $\pi^-$-to-$\pi^+$ production ($5<p_T<13$ GeV/$c$), together with the double-helicity asymmetries ($5<p_T<12$ GeV/$c$) in polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. The cross section measurements are consistent with perturbative calculations in quantum chromodynamics within large uncertainties in the calculation due to the choice of factorization, renormalization, and fragmentation scales. However, the theoretical calculation of the ratio of $\pi^-$-to-$\pi^+$ production when considering these scale uncertainties overestimates the measured value, suggesting further investigation of the uncertainties on the charge-separated pion fragmentation functions is needed. Due to cancellations of uncertainties in the charge ratio, direct inclusion of these ratio data in future parameterizations should improve constraints on the flavor dependence of quark fragmentation functions to pions. By measuring charge-separated pion asymmetries, one can gain sensitivity to the sign of $\Delta G$ through the opposite sign of the up and down quark helicity distributions in conjunction with preferential fragmentation of positive pions from up quarks and negative pions from down quarks. The double-helicity asymmetries presented are sensitive to the gluon helicity distribution over an $x$ range of $\sim$0.03--0.16.
Double-helicity asymmetries and statistical uncertainties for $\pi^+$ and $\pi^-$ hadrons. The primary systematic uncertainties, which are fully correlated between points, are $1.4\times10^{-3}$ from relative luminosity and a $^{+7.0\%}_{-7.7\%}$ scaling uncertainty from beam polarization.
A search is performed for the electroweak pair production of charginos and associated production of a chargino and neutralino, each of which decays through an $R$-parity-violating coupling into a lepton and a $W$, $Z$, or Higgs boson. The trilepton invariant-mass spectrum is constructed from events with three or more leptons, targeting chargino decays that include an electron or muon and a leptonically decaying $Z$ boson. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV and collected by the ATLAS experiment between 2015 and 2018. The data are found to be consistent with predictions from the Standard Model. The results are interpreted as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model. Limits are also set on the production of charginos and neutralinos for a Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with an approximate $B$-$L$ symmetry. Charginos and neutralinos with masses between 100 GeV and 1100 GeV are excluded depending on the assumed decay branching fractions into a lepton (electron, muon, or $\tau$-lepton) plus a boson ($W$, $Z$, or Higgs).
$m^{asym}_{Z\ell}$ kinematic distribution in the signal regions showing the data and the post-fit background in sr3$\ell$. The fit uses all CR and SRs, and the distributions are shown inclusively in $m_{Z\ell}$. The full event selection for each of the corresponding regions is applied except for the variable shown, where the selection is indicated by a blue arrow. the first (last) bin includes underflow (overflow) events. The other category mostly consists of $tWZ$, $t\bar{t}W$, and $tZ$ processes. The hatched bands indicate the combined theoretical, experimental, and MC statistical uncertainties. The bottom panel shows the ratio between the data and the post-fit background prediction.
$m^{asym}_{Z\ell}$ kinematic distribution in the signal regions showing the data and the post-fit background in sr3$\ell$. The fit uses all CR and SRs, and the distributions are shown inclusively in $m_{Z\ell}$. The full event selection for each of the corresponding regions is applied except for the variable shown, where the selection is indicated by a blue arrow. the first (last) bin includes underflow (overflow) events. The other category mostly consists of $tWZ$, $t\bar{t}W$, and $tZ$ processes. The hatched bands indicate the combined theoretical, experimental, and MC statistical uncertainties. The bottom panel shows the ratio between the data and the post-fit background prediction.
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