This letter reports the first measurement of spin alignment, with respect to the helicity axis, for ${\rm D^{*+}}$ vector mesons and their charge conjugates from charm-quark hadronisation (prompt) and from beauty-meson decays (non-prompt) in hadron collisions. The measurements were performed at midrapidity ($|y|<0.8$) as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in proton-proton (pp) collisions collected by ALICE at the centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The diagonal spin density matrix element $\rho_{00}$ of ${\rm D^{*+}}$ mesons was measured from the angular distribution of the ${\rm D^{*+}} \to {\rm D}^0 (\to {\rm K}^{-}\pi^{+}) \pi^+$ decay products, in the ${\rm D^{*+}}$ rest frame, with respect to the ${\rm D^{*+}}$ momentum direction in the pp centre of mass frame. The $\rho_{00}$ value for prompt ${\rm D^{*+}}$ mesons is consistent with $1/3$, which implies no spin alignment. However, for non-prompt ${\rm D^{*+}}$ mesons an evidence of $\rho_{00}$ larger than $1/3$ is found. The measured value of the spin density element is $\rho_{00}=0.455\pm0.022(\text{stat.})\pm0.035(\text{syst.})$ in the $5 < p_{\rm T} < 20$ GeV/$c$ interval, which is consistent with a PYTHIA 8 Monte Carlo simulation coupled with the EVTGEN package, which implements the helicity conservation in the decay of ${\rm D^{*+}}$ meson from beauty mesons. In non-central heavy-ion collisions, the spin of the ${\rm D^{*+}}$ mesons may be globally aligned with the direction of the initial angular momentum and magnetic field. Based on the results for pp collisions reported in this letter it is shown that alignment of non-prompt ${\rm D^{*+}}$ mesons due to the helicity conservation coupled to the collective anisotropic expansion may mimic the signal of global spin alignment in heavy-ion collisions.

The measurement of the cross section for the production of a Z boson, decaying to dielectrons or dimuons, in association with at least one bottom quark jet are performed with proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2016-2018. The integrated cross sections for Z + $\ge$ 1 b jet and Z + $\ge$ 2 b jets are reported for the electron, muon, and combined channels. The fiducial cross sections in the combined channel are 6.52 $\pm$ 0.04 (stat) $\pm$ 0.40 (syst) $\pm$ 0.14 (theo) pb for Z + $\ge$ 1 b jet and 0.65 $\pm$ 0.03 (stat) $\pm$ 0.07 (syst) $\pm$ 0.02 (theo) pb for Z + $\ge$ 2 b jets. The differential cross section distributions are measured as functions of various kinematic observables that are useful for precision tests of perturbative quantum chromodynamics predictions. The ratios of integrated and differential cross sections for Z + $\ge$ 2 b jets and Z + $\ge$ 1 b jet processes are also determined. The value of the integrated cross section ratio measured in the combined channel is 0.100 $\pm$ 0.005 (stat) $\pm$ 0.007 (syst) $\pm$ 0.003 (theo). All measurements are compared with predictions from various event generators.

Many measurements at the LHC require efficient identification of heavy-flavour jets, i.e. jets originating from bottom (b) or charm (c) quarks. An overview of the algorithms used to identify c jets is described and a novel method to calibrate them is presented. This new method adjusts the entire distributions of the outputs obtained when the algorithms are applied to jets of different flavours. It is based on an iterative approach exploiting three distinct control regions that are enriched with either b jets, c jets, or light-flavour and gluon jets. Results are presented in the form of correction factors evaluated using proton-proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment in 2017. The closure of the method is tested by applying the measured correction factors on simulated data sets and checking the agreement between the adjusted simulation and collision data. Furthermore, a validation is performed by testing the method on pseudodata, which emulate different miscalibration conditions. The calibrated results enable the use of the full distributions of heavy-flavour identification algorithm outputs, e.g. as inputs to machine-learning models. Thus, they are expected to increase the sensitivity of future physics analyses.

A search for new heavy resonances decaying to a pair of Higgs bosons (HH) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is presented. Data were collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Resonances with a mass between 0.8 and 4.5 TeV are considered using events in which one Higgs boson decays into a bottom quark pair and the other into final states with either one or two charged leptons. Specifically, the single-lepton decay channel HH $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$WW$^*$ $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}\ell\nu q\bar{q}'$ and the dilepton decay channels HH $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$WW$^*$ $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}\ell\nu \ell\nu$ and HH $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}\tau\tau$ $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}\ell\nu\nu \ell\nu\nu$ are examined, where $\ell$ in the final state corresponds to an electron or muon. The signal is extracted using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood fit of the H $\to$ $\mathrm{b\bar{b}}$ jet mass and HH invariant mass distributions. No significant excess above the standard model expectation is observed in data. Model-independent exclusion limits are placed on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for narrow spin-0 and spin-2 massive bosons decaying to HH. The results are also interpreted in the context of radion and bulk graviton production in models with a warped extra spatial dimension. The results provide the most stringent limits to date for X $\to$ HH signatures with final-state leptons and at some masses provide the most sensitive limits of all X $\to$ HH searches.

The cross section of the process $e^+ e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ has been measured in the Spherical Neutral Detector (SND) experiment at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider VEPP-2000 in the energy region $525 <\sqrt[]{s} <883$ MeV. The measurement is based on data with an integrated luminosity of about 4.6 pb$^{-1}$. The systematic uncertainty of the cross section determination is 0.8 % at $\sqrt{s}>0.600$ GeV. The $\rho$ meson parameters are obtained as $m_\rho = 775.3\pm 0.5\pm 0.6$ MeV, $\Gamma_\rho = 145.6\pm 0.6\pm 0.8$ MeV, $B_{\rho\to e^+ e^-}\times B_{\rho\to\pi^+\pi^-} = (4.89\pm 0.02\pm 0.04)\times 10^{-5}$, and the parameters of the $e^+ e^-\to\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-$ process, suppressed by $G$-parity, as $B_{\omega\to e^+ e^-}\times B_{\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-}= (1.32\pm 0.06\pm 0.02)\times 10^{-6} $ and $\phi_{\rho\omega} = 110.7\pm 1.5\pm1.0$ degrees.

Evidence is reported for electroweak (EW) vector boson scattering in the decay channel $\ell\nu$qq of two weak vector bosons WV (V = W or Z), produced in association with two parton jets. The search uses a data set of proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector during 2016-2018 with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Events are selected requiring one lepton (electron or muon), moderate missing transverse momentum, two jets with a large pseudorapidity separation and a large dijet invariant mass, and a signature consistent with the hadronic decay of a W/Z boson. The cross section is computed in a fiducial phase space defined at parton level requiring all parton transverse momenta $p_\mathrm{T}$$\gt$ 10 GeV and at least one pair of outgoing partons with invariant mass $m_\mathrm{qq}$$\gt$ 100 GeV. The measured and expected EW WV production cross sections are 1.90 $^{+0.53}_{-0.46}$ pb and 2.23 $^{+0.08}_{-0.11}$ (scale) $\pm$ 0.05 (PDF) pb, respectively, where PDF is the parton distribution function. The observed EW signal strength is $m_\mathrm{EW}$ = 0.85 $\pm$ 0.12 (stat) $^{+0.19}_{-0.17}$ (syst), corresponding to a signal significance of 4.4 standard deviations with 5.1 expected, and it is measured keeping the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) associated diboson production fixed to the standard model prediction. This is the first evidence of vector boson scattering in the $\ell\nu$qq decay channel at LHC. The simultaneous measurement of the EW and QCD associated diboson production agrees with the standard model prediction.

The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured in the c.m. energy range 1.04-1.38 GeV from 995 000 selected collinear events including 860000 $e^+e^-$ events, 82000 $\mu^+\mu^-$ events, and 33000 $\pi^+\pi^-$ events. The systematic and statistical errors of measuring the pion form factor are equal to 1.2-4.2 and 5-13%, respectively.

The pion electromagnetic form factor has been measured at the VEPP-2M collider in the c.m. energy range 360 MeV–1400 MeV with the detectors OLYA and CMD. On the basis of all available data for the pion form factor collected in the timelike region, the following values for ρ-meson parameters were obtained: m ρ = 775.9 ± 1.1 MeV, σ ρ = 150.5 ± 3.0 MeV. The ω-meson branching ratio into π + π − pair, electromagnetic radius of the pion, ππ scattering length in the P-wave and the strong interaction contribution to the muon ( g − 2) value were found to be B ωππ = (2.3 ± 0.4)%, 〈 r π 2 〉 = 0.422 ± 0.013 fm 2 , a 1 1 = 0.033 ± 0.033m π −3 , a H = (68.4 ± 1.1) × 10 −9 .

Results are presented on a search for CP violation in the production and decay of top quark-antiquark pairs in the lepton+jets channel. The search is based on data from proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Possible CP violation effects are evaluated by measuring uncorrected asymmetries in observables constructed from linearly independent four-momentum vectors of the final-state particles. The dimensionless chromoelectric dipole moment of the top quark obtained from the observed asymmetries is measured to be 0.04 $\pm$ 0.10 (stat) $\pm$ 0.07 (syst), and the asymmetries exhibit no evidence for CP-violating effects, consistent with expectations from the standard model.

We report results from a search for neutrino-induced neutral current (NC) resonant $\Delta$(1232) baryon production followed by $\Delta$ radiative decay, with a $\langle0.8\rangle$~GeV neutrino beam. Data corresponding to MicroBooNE's first three years of operations (6.80$\times$10$^{20}$ protons on target) are used to select single-photon events with one or zero protons and without charged leptons in the final state ($1\gamma1p$ and $1\gamma0p$, respectively). The background is constrained via an in-situ high-purity measurement of NC $\pi^0$ events, made possible via dedicated $2\gamma1p$ and $2\gamma0p$ selections. A total of 16 and 153 events are observed for the $1\gamma1p$ and $1\gamma0p$ selections, respectively, compared to a constrained background prediction of $20.5 \pm 3.65 \text{(sys.)} $ and $145.1 \pm 13.8 \text{(sys.)} $ events. The data lead to a bound on an anomalous enhancement of the normalization of NC $\Delta$ radiative decay of less than $2.3$ times the predicted nominal rate for this process at the 90% confidence level (CL). The measurement disfavors a candidate photon interpretation of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess as a factor of $3.18$ times the nominal NC $\Delta$ radiative decay rate at the 94.8% CL, in favor of the nominal prediction, and represents a greater than $50$-fold improvement over the world's best limit on single-photon production in NC interactions in the sub-GeV neutrino energy range