Constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings using production and decay information in the four-lepton final state

A search is performed for anomalous interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson using matrix element techniques with the information from its decay to four leptons and from associated Higgs boson production with two quark jets in either vector boson fusion or associated production with a vector boson. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of and correspond to an integrated luminosity of . They are combined with the data collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 and , corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and , respectively. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson

Search for new phenomena in final states with two opposite-charge, same-flavor leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

Search results are presented for physics beyond the standard model in final states with two opposite-charge, same-flavor leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb 121 of proton-proton collisions at s 1a=13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016. The analysis uses the invariant mass of the lepton pair, searching for a kinematic edge or a resonant-like excess compatible with the Z boson mass. The search for a kinematic edge targets production of particles sensitive to the strong force, while the resonance search targets both strongly and electroweakly produced new physics. The observed yields are consistent with the expectations from the standard model, and the results are interpreted in the context of simplified models of supersymmetry. In a gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) model of gluino pair production with decay chains including Z bosons, gluino masses up to 1500\u20131770 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level depending on the lightest neutralino mass. In a model of electroweak chargino-neutralino production, chargino masses as high as 610 GeV are excluded when the lightest neutralino is massless. In GMSB models of electroweak neutralino-neutralino production, neutralino masses up to 500-650 GeV are excluded depending on the decay mode assumed. Finally, in a model with bottom squark pair production and decay chains resulting in a kinematic edge in the dilepton invariant mass distribution, bottom squark masses up to 980\u20131200 GeV are excluded depending on the mass of the next-to-lightest neutralino

Search for dijet resonances in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV and constraints on dark matter and other models

A search is presented for narrow resonances decaying to dijet final states in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.9 fb(-1). The dijet mass spectrum is well described by a smooth parameterization and no significant evidence for the production of new particles is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are reported on the production cross section for narrow resonances with masses above 0.6TeV. In the context of specific models, the limits exclude string resonances with masses below 7.4TeV, scalar diquarks below 6.9TeV, axigluons and colorons below 5.5TeV, excited quarks below 5.4TeV, color-octet scalars below 3.OTeV, W' bosons below 2.7 TeV, Z' bosons below 2.1 TeV and between 2.3 and 2.6 TeV, and RS gravitons below 1.9 TeV. These extend previous limits in the dijet channel. Vector and axial-vector mediators in a simplified model of interactions between quarks and dark matter are excluded below 2.0 TeV. The first limits in the dijet channel on dark matter mediators are presented as functions of dark matter mass and are compared to the exclusions of dark matter in direct detection experiments. (C) 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license

Search for new particles in an extended Higgs sector with four b quarks in the final state at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

A search for a massive resonance X decaying to a pair of spin-0 bosons ϕ that themselves decay to pairs of bottom quarks, is presented. The analysis is restricted to the mass ranges mϕ from 25 to 100 GeV and mX from 1 to 3 TeV. For these mass ranges, the decay products of each ϕ boson are expected to merge into a single large-radius jet. Jet substructure and flavor identification techniques are used to identify these jets. The search is based on CERN LHC proton-proton collision data at s=13TeV, collected with the CMS detector in 2016–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138fb−1. Model-specific limits, where the two new particles arise from an extended Higgs sector, are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for X→ϕϕ→(bb‾)(bb‾) as a function of the resonances' masses, where both the X→ϕϕ and ϕ→bb‾ branching fractions are assumed to be 100%. These limits are the first of their kind on this process, ranging between 30 and 1 fb at 95% confidence level for the considered mass ranges

A portrait of the Higgs boson by the CMS experiment ten years after the discovery

In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the observation of a Higgs boson at a mass of around 125 gigaelectronvolts. Ten years later, and with the data corresponding to the production of a 30-times larger number of Higgs bosons, we have learnt much more about the properties of the Higgs boson. The CMS experiment has observed the Higgs boson in numerous fermionic and bosonic decay channels, established its spin–parity quantum numbers, determined its mass and measured its production cross-sections in various modes. Here the CMS Collaboration reports the most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson, including the most stringent limit on the cross-section for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons, on the basis of data from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 teraelectronvolts. Within the uncertainties, all these observations are compatible with the predictions of the standard model of elementary particle physics. Much evidence points to the fact that the standard model is a low-energy approximation of a more comprehensive theory. Several of the standard model issues originate in the sector of Higgs boson physics. An order of magnitude larger number of Higgs bosons, expected to be examined over the next 15 years, will help deepen our understanding of this crucial sector

Search for resonant production of strongly coupled dark matter in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV

The first collider search for dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector is presented and uses a data sample corresponding to 138 fb−1, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, at s = 13 TeV. The hidden sector is hypothesized to couple to the standard model (SM) via a heavy leptophobic Z′ mediator produced as a resonance in proton-proton collisions. The mediator decay results in two “semivisible” jets, containing both visible matter and invisible dark matter. The final state therefore includes moderate missing energy aligned with one of the jets, a signature ignored by most dark matter searches. No structure in the dijet transverse mass spectra compatible with the signal is observed. Assuming the Z′ boson has a universal coupling of 0.25 to the SM quarks, an inclusive search, relevant to any model that exhibits this kinematic behavior, excludes mediator masses of 1.5–4.0 TeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the other signal model parameters. To enhance the sensitivity of the search for this particular class of hidden sector models, a boosted decision tree (BDT) is trained using jet substructure variables to distinguish between semivisible jets and SM jets from background processes. When the BDT is employed to identify each jet in the dijet system as semivisible, the mediator mass exclusion increases to 5.1 TeV, for wider ranges of the other signal model parameters. These limits exclude a wide range of strongly coupled hidden sector models for the first time. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of the Higgs boson width and evidence of its off-shell contributions to ZZ production

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, detailed studies of its properties have been ongoing. Besides its mass, its width—related to its lifetime—is an important parameter. One way to determine this quantity is to measure its off-shell production, where the Higgs boson mass is far away from its nominal value, and relating it to its on-shell production, where the mass is close to the nominal value. Here we report evidence for such off-shell contributions to the production cross-section of two Z bosons with data from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We constrain the total rate of the off-shell Higgs boson contribution beyond the Z boson pair production threshold, relative to its standard model expectation, to the interval [0.0061, 2.0] at the 95% confidence level. The scenario with no off-shell contribution is excluded at a p-value of 0.0003 (3.6 standard deviations). We measure the width of the Higgs boson as ΓH=3.2+2.4−1.7MeV, in agreement with the standard model expectation of 4.1 MeV. In addition, we set constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings to W and Z boson pairs

Measurements of production cross sections of polarized same-sign W boson pairs in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

The first measurements of production cross sections of polarized same-sign W±W± boson pairs in proton-proton collisions are reported. The measurements are based on a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137fb−1. Events are selected by requiring exactly two same-sign leptons, electrons or muons, moderate missing transverse momentum, and two jets with a large rapidity separation and a large dijet mass to enhance the contribution of same-sign W±W± scattering events. An observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.17 (0.88) fbis set on the production cross section for longitudinally polarized same-sign W±W± boson pairs. The electroweak production of same-sign W±W± boson pairs with at least one of the W bosons longitudinally polarized is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 2.3 (3.1) standard deviations

Search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced via vector boson fusion in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

A search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced via vector boson fusion (VBF) has been performed with 101  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at √s=13  TeV and collected by the CMS detector in 2017 and 2018. The sensitivity to the VBF production mechanism is enhanced by constructing two analysis categories, one based on missing transverse momentum and a second based on the properties of jets. In addition to control regions with Z and W boson candidate events, a highly populated control region, based on the production of a photon in association with jets, is used to constrain the dominant irreducible background from the invisible decay of a Z boson produced in association with jets. The results of this search are combined with all previous measurements in the VBF topology, based on data collected in 2012 (at √s=8  TeV), 2015, and 2016, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7, 2.3, and 36.3  fb−1, respectively. The observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction of the Higgs boson is found to be 0.18 (0.10) at the 95% confidence level, assuming the standard model production cross section. The results are also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal models