The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is observed for the first time in heavy ion collisions. Data from the CMS detector are used to study the production of the $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV, via the $B_\mathrm{c}^+ \to (J/\psi\to\mu^+\mu^-)\mu^+\nu_\mu$ decay. The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ nuclear modification factor, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of production cross sections, is measured in two bins of the trimuon transverse momentum and of the PbPb collision centrality. The B$_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is shown to be less suppressed than quarkonia and most of the open heavy-flavor mesons, suggesting that effects of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions contribute to its production. This measurement sets forth a promising new probe of the interplay of suppression and enhancement mechanisms in the production of heavy-flavor mesons in the quark-gluon plasma.

The production of jets associated to bottom quarks is measured for the first time in PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair. Jet spectra are reported in the transverse momentum (pt) range of 80-250 GeV, and within pseudorapidity abs(eta < 2). The nuclear modification factor (R[AA]) calculated from these spectra shows a strong suppression in the b-jet yield in PbPb collisions relative to the yield observed in pp collisions at the same energy. The suppression persists to the largest values of pt studied, and is centrality dependent. The R[AA] is about 0.4 in the most central events, similar to previous observations for inclusive jets. This implies that jet quenching does not have a strong dependence on parton mass and flavor in the jet pt range studied.

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.

The cross sections for $\Upsilon$(1S), $\Upsilon$(2S), and $\Upsilon$(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, R$_\mathrm{AA}$, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(1S)) $>$ R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(2S)) $>$ R$_\mathrm{AA}$($\Upsilon$(3S)) . The suppression of $\Upsilon$(1S) is larger than that seen at $\sqrt{s_{_\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the R$_\mathrm{AA}$ of $\Upsilon$(3S) integrated over $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity is 0.094 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for any hadron species in heavy ion collisions to date.

The production of prompt $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ baryons is measured via the exclusive decay channel $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$$\to$ pK$^-\pi^+$ at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV, using proton-proton (pp) and lead-lead (PbPb) collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The pp and PbPb data were obtained in 2017 and 2018 with integrated luminosities of 252 and 0.607 nb$^{-1}$, respectively. The measurements are performed within the $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ rapidity interval $\vert y \vert$$\lt$ 1 with transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) ranges of 3-30 and 6-40 GeV/$c$ for pp and PbPb collisions, respectively. Compared to the yields in pp collisions scaled by the expected number of nucleon-nucleon interactions, the observed yields of $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ with $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 10 GeV/$c$ are strongly suppressed in PbPb collisions. The level of suppression depends significantly on the collision centrality. The $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ / D$^0$ production ratio is similar in PbPb and pp collisions at $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 10 GeV/$c$, suggesting that the coalescence process does not play a dominant role in prompt $\Lambda^+_\mathrm{c}$ baryon production at higher $p_\mathrm{T}$.

The production of $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions is studied in their dimuon decay channel using the CMS detector at the LHC. The $\Upsilon$(3S) meson is observed for the first time in PbPb collisions, with a significance above five standard deviations. The ratios of yields measured in PbPb and pp collisions are reported for both the $\Upsilon$(2S) and $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons, as functions of transverse momentum and PbPb collision centrality. These ratios, when appropriately scaled, are significantly less than unity, indicating a suppression of $\Upsilon$ yields in PbPb collisions. This suppression increases from peripheral to central PbPb collisions. Furthermore, the suppression is stronger for $\Upsilon$(3S) mesons compared to $\Upsilon$(2S) mesons, extending the pattern of sequential suppression of quarkonium states in nuclear collisions previously seen for the $\psi$/J, $\psi$(2S), $\Upsilon$(1S), and $\Upsilon$(2S) mesons.

A search for Z bosons in the mu^+mu^- decay channel has been performed in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre of mass energy = 2.76 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, in a 7.2 inverse microbarn data sample. The number of opposite-sign muon pairs observed in the 60--120 GeV/c2 invariant mass range is 39, corresponding to a yield per unit of rapidity (y) and per minimum bias event of (33.8 ± 5.5 (stat) ± 4.4 (syst)) 10^{-8}, in the |y|<2.0 range. Rapidity, transverse momentum, and centrality dependencies are also measured. The results agree with next-to-leading order QCD calculations, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions.

The production of the $\psi(2S)$ charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity ($2.5<y<4$). The measurement of the ratio of the inclusive production cross sections of the $\psi(2S)$ and J/$\psi$ resonances is reported as a function of the centrality of the collisions and of transverse momentum, in the region $p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$. The results are compared with the corresponding measurements in pp collisions, by forming the double ratio $[\sigma^{\psi(2S)}/\sigma^{J/\psi}]_{\rm{Pb-Pb}}/[\sigma^{\psi(2S)}/\sigma^{J/\psi}]_{\rm{pp}}$. It is found that in Pb-Pb collisions the $\psi(2S)$ is suppressed by a factor of $\sim 2$ with respect to the J/$\psi$. The $\psi(2S)$ nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was also obtained as a function of both centrality and $p_{\rm T}$. The results show that the $\psi(2S)$ resonance yield is strongly suppressed in Pb-Pb collisions, by a factor up to $\sim 3$ with respect to pp. Comparisons of cross section ratios with previous SPS findings by the NA50 experiment and of $R_{\rm AA}$ with higher-$p_{\rm T}$ results at LHC energy are also reported. These results and the corresponding comparisons with calculations of transport and statistical models address questions on the presence and properties of charmonium states in the quark-gluon plasma formed in nuclear collisions at the LHC.

The transverse momentum spectra of charged particles have been measured in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. In the transverse momentum range pt = 5-10 GeV/c, the charged particle yield in the most central PbPb collisions is suppressed by up to a factor of 5 compared to the pp yield scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions. At higher pt, this suppression is significantly reduced, approaching roughly a factor of 2 for particles with pt in the range pt=40-100 GeV/c.

The results of mid-rapidity ($0 < y < 0.8$) neutral pion spectra over an extended transverse momentum range ($1 < p_T < 12$ GeV/$c$) in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions, measured by the STAR experiment, are presented. The neutral pions are reconstructed from photons measured either by the STAR Barrel Electro-Magnetic Calorimeter (BEMC) or by the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) via tracking of conversion electron-positron pairs. Our measurements are compared to previously published $\pi^{\pm}$ and $\pi^0$ results. The nuclear modification factors $R_{\mathrm{CP}}$ and $R_{\mathrm{AA}}$ of $\pi^0$ are also presented as a function of $p_T$ . In the most central Au+Au collisions, the binary collision scaled $\pi^0$ yield at high $p_T$ is suppressed by a factor of about 5 compared to the expectation from the yield of p+p collisions. Such a large suppression is in agreement with previous observations for light quark mesons and is consistent with the scenario that partons suffer considerable energy loss in the dense medium formed in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC.