Measurements of the differential cross sections of the production of Z + jets and γ + jets and of Z boson emission collinear with a jet in pp collisions at s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

Measurements of the differential cross sections of Z + jets and γ + jets production, and their ratio, are presented as a function of the boson transverse momentum. Measurements are also presented of the angular distribution between the Z boson and the closest jet. The analysis is based on pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The results, corrected for detector effects, are compared with various theoretical predictions. In general, the predictions at higher orders in perturbation theory show better agreement with the measurements. This work provides the first measurement of the ratio of the differential cross sections of Z + jets and γ + jets production at 13 TeV, as well as the first direct measurement of Z bosons emitted collinearly with a jet

Search for low-mass dilepton resonances in Higgs boson decays to four-lepton final states in proton–proton collisions at s=13 TeV\sqrt{s}=13\,\text {TeV}

A search for low-mass dilepton resonances in Higgs boson decays is conducted in the four-lepton final state. The decay is assumed to proceed via a pair of beyond the standard model particles, or one such particle and a Z boson. The search uses proton–proton collision data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137fb−1, at a center-of-mass energy s√=13TeV. No significant deviation from the standard model expectation is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on model-independent Higgs boson decay branching fractions. Additionally, limits on dark photon and axion-like particle production, based on two specific models, are reported

Observation of Forward Neutron Multiplicity Dependence of Dimuon Acoplanarity in Ultraperipheral Pb-Pb Collisions at sNN\sqrt{sNN} =5.02 TeV

The first measurement of the dependence of γγ→μ$^{+}$ μ$^{-}$ production on the multiplicity of neutrons emitted very close to the beam direction in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions is reported. Data for lead-lead interactions at $\sqrt{^{s}NN}$=5.02 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of approximately 1.5nb$^{-1}$, are collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The azimuthal correlations between the two muons in the invariant mass region 88.3. The back-to-back correlation structure from leading-order photon-photon scattering is found to be significantly broader for events with a larger number of emitted neutrons from each nucleus, corresponding to interactions with a smaller impact parameter. This observation provides a data-driven demonstration that the average transverse momentum of photons emitted from relativistic heavy ions has an impact parameter dependence. These results provide new constraints on models of photon-induced interactions in ultraperipheral collisions. They also provide a baseline to search for possible final-state effects on lepton pairs caused by traversing a quark-gluon plasma produced in hadronic heavy ion collisions

Search for decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a ρ or ϕ meson

Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson into a Z boson and a ρ^0(770) or ϕ(1020) meson are searched for using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at √s = 13 TeV. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb⁻¹. Events are selected in which the Z boson decays into a pair of electrons or a pair of muons, and the ρ and ϕ mesons decay into pairs of pions and kaons, respectively. No significant excess above the background model is observed. As different polarization states are possible for the decay products of the Z boson and ρ or ϕ mesons, affecting the signal acceptance, scenarios in which the decays are longitudinally or transversely polarized are considered. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the Higgs boson branching fractions into Zρ and Zϕ are determined to be 1.04–1.31% and 0.31–0.40%, respectively, where the ranges reflect the considered polarization scenarios; these values are 740–940 and 730–950 times larger than the respective standard model expectations. These results constitute the first experimental limits on the two decay channels

Search for the lepton flavor violating decay τ → 3μ in proton-proton collisions at s \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} = 13 TeV

Results are reported from a search for the lepton flavor violating decay τ → 3μ in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{\mathrm{s}}$ = 13 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 33.2 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016. The search exploits τ leptons produced in both W boson and heavy-flavor hadron decays. No significant excess above the expected background is observed. An upper limit on the branching fraction B(τ → 3μ) of 8.0 x 10$^{-8}$ at 90% confidence level is obtained, with an expected upper limit of 6.9 x 10$^{-8}$

Electron and photon reconstruction and identification with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The performance is presented of the reconstruction and identification algorithms for electrons and photons with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The reported results are based on proton-proton collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and recorded in 2016-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 136 fb(-1). Results obtained from lead-lead collision data collected at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV are also presented. Innovative techniques are used to reconstruct the electron and photon signals in the detector and to optimize the energy resolution. Events with electrons and photons in the final state are used to measure the energy resolution and energy scale uncertainty in the recorded events. The measured energy resolution for electrons produced in Z boson decays in proton-proton collision data ranges from 2 to 5%, depending on electron pseudorapidity and energy loss through bremsstrahlung in the detector material. The energy scale in the same range of energies is measured with an uncertainty smaller than 0.1 (0.3)% in the barrel (endcap) region in proton-proton collisions and better than 1(3)% in the barrel (endcap) region in heavy ion collisions. The timing resolution for electrons from Z boson decays with the full 2016-2018 proton-proton collision data set is measured to be 200 ps.Peer reviewe

In-medium modification of dijets in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

Modifications to the distribution of charged particles with respect to high transverse momentum (p(T)) jets passing through a quark-gluon plasma are explored using the CMS detector. Back-to-back dijets are analyzed in lead-lead and proton-proton collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV via correlations of charged particles in bins of relative pseudorapidity and angular distance from the leading and subleading jet axes. In comparing the lead-lead and proton-proton collision results, modifications to the charged-particle relative distance distribution and to the momentum distributions around the jet axis are found to depend on the dijet momentum balance x(j) , which is the ratio between the subleading and leading jet p(T). For events with x(j) approximate to 1, these modifications are observed for both the leading and subleading jets. However, while subleading jets show significant modifications for events with a larger dijet momentum imbalance, much smaller modifications are found for the leading jets in these events.Peer reviewe

Study of Drell-Yan dimuon production in proton-lead collisions at sNN \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 8.16 TeV

Differential cross sections for the Drell-Yan process, including Z boson production, using the dimuon decay channel are measured in proton-lead (pPb) collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV. A data sample recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 173 nb−1. The differential cross section as a function of the dimuon mass is measured in the range 15–600 GeV, for the first time in proton-nucleus collisions. It is also reported as a function of dimuon rapidity over the mass ranges 15–60 GeV and 60–120 GeV, and ratios for the p-going over the Pb-going beam directions are built. In both mass ranges, the differential cross sections as functions of the dimuon transverse momentum pT and of a geometric variable ϕ* are measured, where ϕ* highly correlates with pT but is determined with higher precision. In the Z mass region, the rapidity dependence of the data indicate a modification of the distribution of partons within a lead nucleus as compared to the proton case. The data are more precise than predictions based upon current models of parton distributions