Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions recreate in the laboratory the thermodynamical conditions prevailing in the early universe up to 10$^{-6}$ seconds, thereby allowing the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter with deconfined partons. The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, is accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC, and constitutes a novel probe of the QGP. Here, we report the first-ever evidence for the production of top quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions, using lead-lead collision data at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment. Two methods are used to measure the cross section for top quark pair production ($\sigma_\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) via the decay into charged leptons (electrons or muons) and bottom quarks. One method relies on the leptonic information alone, and the second one exploits, in addition, the presence of bottom quarks. The measured cross sections, $\sigma_\mathrm{t\bar{t}} = $ 2.54 $^{+0.84}_{-0.74}$ and 2.03 $^{+0.71}_{-0.64}$ $\mu$b, respectively, are compatible with expectations from scaled proton-proton data and QCD predictions.

The inclusive b-jet production cross section in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is measured using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross section is presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum in the range 18 < pT < 200 GeV for several rapidity intervals. The results are also given as the ratio of the b-jet production cross section to the inclusive jet production cross section. The measurement is performed with two different analyses, which differ in their trigger selection and b-jet identification: a jet analysis that selects events with a b jet using a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 inverse picobarns, and a muon analysis requiring a b jet with a muon based on an integrated luminosity of 3 inverse picobarns. In both approaches the b jets are identified by requiring a secondary vertex. The results from the two methods are in agreement with each other and with next-to-leading order calculations, as well as with predictions based on the PYTHIA event generator.

Searches for anomalous top quark-antiquark production are presented, based on pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns, were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The observed ttbar invariant mass spectrum is found to be compatible with the standard model prediction. Limits on the production cross section times branching fraction probe, for the first time, a region of parameter space for certain models of new physics not yet constrained by precision measurements.

Measurements are presented of the associated production of a W boson and a charm-quark jet (W + c) in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The analysis is conducted with a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns, collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. W boson candidates are identified by their decay into a charged lepton (muon or electron) and a neutrino. The W + c measurements are performed for charm-quark jets in the kinematic region $p_T^{jet} \gt$ 25 GeV, $|\eta^{jet}| \lt$ 2.5, for two different thresholds for the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W-boson decay, and in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta^{\ell}| \lt$ 2.1. Hadronic and inclusive semileptonic decays of charm hadrons are used to measure the following total cross sections: $\sigma(pp \to W + c + X) \times B(W \to \ell \nu)$ = 107.7 +/- 3.3 (stat.) +/- 6.9 (syst.) pb ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 25 GeV) and $\sigma(pp \to W + c + X) \times B(W \to \ell \nu)$ = 84.1 +/- 2.0 (stat.) +/- 4.9 (syst.) pb ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 35 GeV), and the cross section ratios $\sigma(pp \to W^+ + \bar{c} + X)/\sigma(pp \to W^- + c + X)$ = 0.954 +/- 0.025 (stat.) +/- 0.004 (syst.) ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 25 GeV) and $\sigma(pp \to W^+ + \bar{c} + X)\sigma(pp \to W^- + c + X)$ = 0.938 +/- 0.019 (stat.) +/- 0.006 (syst.) ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 35 GeV). Cross sections and cross section ratios are also measured differentially with respect to the absolute value of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay. These are the first measurements from the LHC directly sensitive to the strange quark and antiquark content of the proton. Results are compared with theoretical predictions and are consistent with the predictions based on global fits of parton distribution functions.

A measurement of the W$^+$W$^-$ boson pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV is presented. The data used in this study are collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The W$^+$W$^-$ candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons). Two methods for reducing background contributions are employed. In the first one, a sequence of requirements on kinematic quantities is applied allowing a measurement of the total production cross section: 117.6 $\pm$ 6.8 pb, which agrees well with the theoretical prediction. Fiducial cross sections are also reported for events with zero or one jet, and the change in the zero-jet fiducial cross section with the jet transverse momentum threshold is measured. Normalized differential cross sections are reported within the fiducial region. A second method for suppressing background contributions employs two random forest classifiers. The analysis based on this method includes a measurement of the total production cross section and also a measurement of the normalized jet multiplicity distribution in W$^+$W$^-$ events. Finally, a dilepton invariant mass distribution is used to probe for physics beyond the standard model in the context of an effective field theory, and constraints on the presence of dimension-6 operators are derived.

The WZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV is measured with the CMS experiment at the LHC using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in the leptonic decay modes WZ to l nu l' l', where l, l'= e, mu. The measured cross section for the range 60 < m[l'l'] < 120 GeV is sigma(pp to WZ) = 39.9 +/- 3.2 (stat) +2.9/-3.1 (syst) +/- 0.4 (theo) +/- 1.3 (lumi) pb, consistent with the standard model prediction.

Measurements of the differential production cross sections in transverse momentum and rapidity for B0 mesons produced in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are presented. The dataset used was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 40 inverse picobarns. The production cross section is measured from B0 meson decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi K-short, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to mu^+ mu^- and K-short to pi^+ pi^-. The total cross section for pt(B0) > 5 GeV and y(B0) < 2.2 is measured to be 33.2 +/- 2.5 +/- 3.5 microbarns, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

A measurement of the exclusive two-photon production of muon pairs in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV, pp to p mu^+ mu^- p, is reported using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 40 inverse picobarns. For muon pairs with invariant mass greater than 11.5 GeV, transverse momentum pT(mu) > 4 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta(mu)| < 2.1, a fit to the dimuon pt(mu^+ mu^-) distribution results in a measured cross section of sigma(pp to p mu^+ mu^- p) = 3.38 [+0.58 -0.55] (stat.) +/- 0.16 (syst.) +/- 0.14 (lumi.) pb, consistent with the theoretical prediction evaluated with the event generator Lpair. The ratio to the predicted cross section is 0.83 [+0.14-0.13] (stat.) +/- 0.04 (syst.) +/- 0.03 (lumi.). The characteristic distributions of the muon pairs produced via photon-photon fusion, such as the muon acoplanarity, the muon pair invariant mass and transverse momentum agree with those from the theory.

A search for neutral Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) decaying to tau-lepton pairs in pp collisions is performed, using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 24.6 fb$^{-1}$, with 4.9 fb$^{-1}$ at 7 TeV and 19.7 fb$^{-1}$ at 8 TeV. To enhance the sensitivity to neutral MSSM Higgs bosons, the search includes the case where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a b-quark jet. No excess is observed in the tau-lepton-pair invariant mass spectrum. Exclusion limits are presented in the MSSM parameter space for different benchmark scenarios, $m_\mathrm{h}^\text{max}$, $m_\mathrm{h}^{\text{mod}+}$, $m_\mathrm{h}^{\text{mod}-}$, light-stop, light-stau, $\tau$-phobic, and low-$m_\mathrm{H}$. Upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction for gluon fusion and b-quark associated Higgs boson production are also given.

Measurements of the differential and double-differential Drell-Yan cross sections in the dielectron and dimuon channels are presented. They are based on proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measured inclusive cross section in the Z peak region (60-120 GeV), obtained from the combination of the dielectron and dimuon channels, is 1138 +/- 8 (exp) +/- 25 (theo) +/- 30 (lumi) pb, where the statistical uncertainty is negligible. The differential cross section d(sigma)/d(m) in the dilepton mass range 15 to 2000 GeV is measured and corrected to the full phase space. The double-differential cross section d2(sigma)/d(m)d(abs(y)) is also measured over the mass range 20 to 1500 GeV and absolute dilepton rapidity from 0 to 2.4. In addition, the ratios of the normalized differential cross sections measured at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV are presented. These measurements are compared to the predictions of perturbative QCD at next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) orders using various sets of parton distribution functions (PDFs). The results agree with the NNLO theoretical predictions computed with FEWZ 3.1 using the CT10 NNLO and NNPDF2.1 NNLO PDFs. The measured double-differential cross section and ratio of normalized differential cross sections are sufficiently precise to constrain the proton PDFs.