A search for long-lived particles (LLPs) produced in decays of standard model (SM) Higgs bosons is presented. The data sample consists of 137 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV, recorded at the LHC in 2016-2018. A novel technique is employed to reconstruct decays of LLPs in the endcap muon detectors. The search is sensitive to a broad range of LLP decay modes and to masses as low as a few GeV. No excess of events above the SM background is observed. The most stringent limits to date on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to LLPs subsequently decaying to quarks and $\tau^+\tau^-$ are found for proper decay lengths greater than 6, 20, and 40 m, for LLP masses of 7, 15, and 40 GeV, respectively.
Proton-proton interactions resulting in final states with two photons are studied in a search for the signature of flavor-changing neutral current interactions of top quarks (t) and Higgs bosons (H). The analysis is based on data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$. No significant excess above the background prediction is observed. Upper limits on the branching fractions ($\mathcal{B}$) of the top quark decaying to a Higgs boson and an up (u) or charm quark (c) are derived through a binned fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum. The observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limits are found to be 0.019 (0.031)% for $\mathcal B$(t $\to$ Hu) and 0.073 (0.051)% for $\mathcal{B}$(t $\to$ Hc). These are the strictest upper limits yet determined.
We present a measurement of the t anti-t production cross section in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96 TeV which uses events with an inclusive signature of significant missing transverse energy and jets. This is the first measurement which makes no explicit lepton identification requirements, so that sensitivity to W --> tau nu decays is maintained. Heavy flavor jets from top quark decay are identified with a secondary vertex tagging algorithm. From 311 pb-1 of data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab we measure a production cross section of 5.8 +/- 1.2(stat.)+0.9_-0.7(syst.) pb for a top quark mass of 178 GeV/c2, in agreement with previous determinations and standard model predictions.
Global polarizations ($P$) of $\Lambda$ ($\bar{\Lambda}$) hyperons have been observed in non-central heavy-ion collisions. The strong magnetic field primarily created by the spectator protons in such collisions would split the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ global polarizations ($\Delta P = P_{\Lambda} - P_{\bar{\Lambda}} < 0$). Additionally, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts topological charge fluctuations in vacuum, resulting in a chirality imbalance or parity violation in a local domain. This would give rise to an imbalance ($\Delta n = \frac{N_{\text{L}} - N_{\text{R}}}{\langle N_{\text{L}} + N_{\text{R}} \rangle} \neq 0$) between left- and right-handed $\Lambda$ ($\bar{\Lambda}$) as well as a charge separation along the magnetic field, referred to as the chiral magnetic effect (CME). This charge separation can be characterized by the parity-even azimuthal correlator ($\Delta\gamma$) and parity-odd azimuthal harmonic observable ($\Delta a_{1}$). Measurements of $\Delta P$, $\Delta\gamma$, and $\Delta a_{1}$ have not led to definitive conclusions concerning the CME or the magnetic field, and $\Delta n$ has not been measured previously. Correlations among these observables may reveal new insights. This paper reports measurements of correlation between $\Delta n$ and $\Delta a_{1}$, which is sensitive to chirality fluctuations, and correlation between $\Delta P$ and $\Delta\gamma$ sensitive to magnetic field in Au+Au collisions at 27 GeV. For both measurements, no correlations have been observed beyond statistical fluctuations.
We present a measurement of the $\ttbar$ production cross section using $194 \mathrm{pb^{-1}}$ of CDF II data using events with a high transverse momentum electron or muon, three or more jets, and missing transverse energy. The measurement assumes 100% $t\to Wb$ branching fraction. Events consistent with $\ttbar$ decay are found by identifying jets containing heavy flavor semileptonic decays to muons. The dominant backgrounds are evaluated directly from the data. Based on 20 candidate events and an expected background of 9.5$\pm$1.1 events, we measure a production cross section of $5.3\pm3.3^{+1.3}_{-1.0} \mathrm{pb}$, in agreement with the standard model.
We report a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry, $A_{FB}$, in $b\bar{b}$ pairs produced in proton-antiproton collisions and identified by muons from semileptonic $b$-hadron decays. The event sample was collected at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV with the CDF II detector and corresponds to 6.9 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. We obtain an integrated asymmetry of $A_{FB}(b\bar{b})=(1.2 \pm 0.7)$\% at the particle level for $b$-quark pairs with invariant mass, $m_{b\bar{b}}$, down to $40$ GeV/$c^2$ and measure the dependence of $A_{FB}(b\bar{b})$ on $m_{b\bar{b}}$. The results are compatible with expectations from the standard model.
A search is presented for extra spatial dimensions, quantum black holes, and quark contact interactions in measurements of dijet angular distributions in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The distributions are found to be in agreement with predictions from perturbative quantum chromodynamics that include electroweak corrections. Limits for different contact interaction models are obtained in a benchmark model, valid to next-to-leading order in QCD, in which only left-handed quarks participate, quark contact interactions are excluded up to a scale of 11.5 or 14.7 TeV for destructive or constructive interference, respectively. The production of quantum black holes is excluded for masses below 7.8 or 5.3 TeV, depending on the model. The lower limits for the scales of virtual graviton exchange in the Arkani-Hamed--Dimopoulos--Dvali model of extra spatial dimensions are in the range 7.9-11.2 TeV, and are the most stringent set of limits available.
A search for supersymmetry is presented based on multijet events with large missing transverse momentum produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 13 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 inverse femtobarns, were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016. The analysis utilizes four-dimensional exclusive search regions defined in terms of the number of jets, the number of tagged bottom quark jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, and the magnitude of the vector sum of jet transverse momenta. No evidence for a significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model. Limits on the cross sections for the pair production of gluinos and squarks are derived in the context of simplified models. Assuming the lightest supersymmetric particle to be a weakly interacting neutralino, 95% confidence level lower limits on the gluino mass as large as 1800 to 1960 GeV are derived, and on the squark mass as large as 960 to 1390 GeV, depending on the production and decay scenario.
A search for a heavy resonance decaying into a top quark and antiquark ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) pair is performed using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The search uses the data set collected with the CMS detector in 2016, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The analysis considers three exclusive final states and uses reconstruction techniques that are optimized for top quarks with high Lorentz boosts, which requires the use of nonisolated leptons and jet substructure techniques. No significant excess of events relative to the expected yield from standard model processes is observed. Upper limits on the production cross section of heavy resonances decaying to a $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ pair are calculated. Limits are derived for a leptophobic topcolor Z' resonance with widths of 1, 10, and 30%, relative to the mass of the resonance, and exclude masses up to 3.80, 5.25, and 6.65 TeV, respectively. Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gluon in the Randall-Sundrum model are excluded up to 4.55 TeV. To date, these are the most stringent limits on $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ resonances.
A search for WW production from double-parton scattering processes using same-charge electron-muon and dimuon events is reported, based on proton-proton collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analyzed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 77.4 fb$^{-1}$, collected using the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016 and 2017. Multivariate classifiers are used to discriminate between the signal and the dominant background processes. A maximum likelihood fit is performed to extract the signal cross section. This leads to the first evidence for WW production via double-parton scattering, with a significance of 3.9 standard deviations. The measured inclusive cross section is 1.41 $\pm$ 0.28 (stat) $\pm$ 0.28 (syst) pb.
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