A measurement of WW production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and a search for the Higgs boson are reported. The WW candidates are selected in events with two leptons, either electrons or muons. The measurement is performed using LHC data recorded with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. The pp to WW cross section is measured to be 41.1 +/- 15.3 (stat) +/- 5.8 (syst) +/- 4.5 (lumi) pb, consistent with the standard model prediction. Limits on WW gamma and WWZ anomalous triple gauge couplings are set. The search for the standard model Higgs boson in the WW decay mode does not reveal any evidence of excess above backgrounds. Limits are set on the production of the Higgs boson in the context of the standard model and in the presence of a sequential fourth family of fermions with high masses. In the latter context, a Higgs boson with mass between 144 and 207 GeV is ruled out at 95% confidence level.
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.
Searches for invisible decays of the Higgs boson are presented. The data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to integrated luminosities of 5.1, 19.7, and 2.3 inverse femtobarns at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, respectively. The search channels target Higgs boson production via gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and in association with a vector boson. Upper limits are placed on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson decay to invisible particles, as a function of the assumed production cross sections. The combination of all channels, assuming standard model production, yields an observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction of 0.24 (0.23) at the 95% confidence level. The results are also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal dark matter models.
A search is presented for the decays of heavy exotic long-lived particles (LLPs) that are produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC and come to rest in the CMS detector. Their decays would be visible during periods of time well separated from proton-proton collisions. Two decay scenarios of stopped LLPs are explored: a hadronic decay detected in the calorimeter and a decay into muons detected in the muon system. The calorimeter (muon) search covers a period of sensitivity totaling 721 (744) hours in 38.6 (39.0) fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the CMS detector in 2015 and 2016. The results are interpreted in several scenarios that predict LLPs. Production cross section limits are set as a function of the mean proper lifetime and the mass of the LLPs, for lifetimes between 100 ns and 10 days. These are the most stringent limits to date on the mass of hadronically decaying stopped LLPs, and this is the first search at the LHC for stopped LLPs that decay to muons.
Pseudorapidity, transverse momentum, and multiplicity distributions are measured in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta| <$ 2.4 for charged particles with transverse momenta satisfying $p_\mathrm{T} >$ 0.5 GeV in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. Measurements are presented in three different event categories. The most inclusive of the categories corresponds to an inelastic pp data set, while the other two categories are exclusive subsets of the inelastic sample that are either enhanced or depleted in single diffractive dissociation events. The measurements are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators used to describe high-energy hadronic interactions in collider and cosmic-ray physics.
The angular distribution of the flavor-changing neutral current decay B$^+$$\to$ K$^+\mu^+\mu^-$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The analysis is based on data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.5 fb$^{-1}$. The forward-backward asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{FB}}$ of the dimuon system and the contribution $F_{\mathrm{H}}$ from the pseudoscalar, scalar, and tensor amplitudes to the decay width are measured as a function of the dimuon mass squared. The measurements are consistent with the standard model expectations.
The mass of the top quark is measured using a sample of $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ events collected by the CMS detector using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV at the CERN LHC. Events are selected with one isolated muon or electron and at least four jets from data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. For each event the mass is reconstructed from a kinematic fit of the decay products to a $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ hypothesis. Using the ideogram method, the top quark mass is determined simultaneously with an overall jet energy scale factor (JSF), constrained by the mass of the W boson in $\mathrm{q\overline{q}'}$ decays. The measurement is calibrated on samples simulated at next-to-leading order matched to a leading-order parton shower. The top quark mass is found to be 172.25 $\pm$ 0.08 (stat+JSF) $\pm$ 0.62 (syst) GeV. The dependence of this result on the kinematic properties of the event is studied and compared to predictions of different models of $\mathrm{t\overline{t}}$ production, and no indications of a bias in the measurements are observed.
The differential cross sections for inclusive production of B+ hadrons are measured as a function of the B+ transverse momentum pT[B] and rapidity y[B] in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using data collected by the CMS experiment that correspond to an integrated luminosity of 49.4 inverse picobarns. The measurement uses the exclusive decay channel B+ to J/psi K+, with J/psi mesons that decay to a pair of muons. The results show a reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations within the uncertainties.
A measurement of jet substructure observables is presented using \ttbar events in the lepton+jets channel from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. Multiple jet substructure observables are measured for jets identified as bottom, light-quark, and gluon jets, as well as for inclusive jets (no flavor information). The results are unfolded to the particle level and compared to next-to-leading-order predictions from POWHEG interfaced with the parton shower generators PYTHIA 8 and HERWIG 7, as well as from SHERPA 2 and DIRE2. A value of the strong coupling at the Z boson mass, $\alpha_S(m_\mathrm{Z}) = $ 0.115$^{+0.015}_{-0.013}$, is extracted from the substructure data at leading-order plus leading-log accuracy.
A search for production of the supersymmetric partners of the top quark, top squarks, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision events containing multiple jets, no leptons, and large transverse momentum imbalance. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. The targeted signal production scenarios are direct and gluino-mediated top squark production, including scenarios in which the top squark and neutralino masses are nearly degenerate. The search utilizes novel algorithms based on deep neural networks that identify hadronically decaying top quarks and W bosons, which are expected in many of the targeted signal models. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model, and limits on the top squark production cross section are obtained in the context of simplified supersymmetric models for various production and decay modes. Exclusion limits as high as 1310 GeV are established at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the top squark for direct top squark production models, and as high as 2260 GeV on the mass of the gluino for gluino-mediated top squark production models. These results represent a significant improvement over the results of previous searches for supersymmetry by CMS in the same final state.