31 Search Results

A search for the pair production of heavy spin- $1/2$ or spin- $3/2$ resonances ( $t^{*}$ ) in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ is presented. Data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC from 2016 to 2018 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ are used. The analysis targets benchmark signal scenarios where one $t^{*}$ decays into a top quark ( $t$ ) and a photon ( $\gamma$ ), and the other into a $t$ quarkmore » and a gluon ( $g$ ), i.e., $pp\to t^{*}\overline{t^{*}}\to tt\gamma g$ . All-hadronic final states from the $t$ pair decay chain are selected using jet substructure techniques. The signal is probed as a function of the $t^{*}$ candidate mass, which is reconstructed using the photon and a top quark candidate jet. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is found. Observed (expected) upper limits on the signal cross section at 95% confidence level are set, excluding masses of spin- $1/2$ $t^{*}$ particles below 930 (930) GeV and spin- $3/2$ $t^{*}$ particles below 1330 (1390) GeV. This analysis marks the first search for heavy resonances in the $t\overline{t}\gamma g$ channel. Exploiting the high-energy photon to reduce the backgrounds, this search achieves sensitivity competitive with $pp\to t^{*}\overline{t^{*}}\to t\overline{t}gg$ searches for spin- $1/2$ $t^{*}$ despite the small expected $t^{*}\to t\gamma$ branching fraction.« less

The ratio between the B$$_\mathrm{c}^+$$$$\to$$ J/$$ψ$$$τ^+ν_τ$$ and B$$_\mathrm{c}^+$$$$\to$$ J/$$ψ$$$μ^+ν_μ$$ branching fractions is measured using a data sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in the years 2016$$-$$2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$$^{-1}$$. The J$/ψ$ meson is identified through its J$/ψ$$$$\to$$$$μ^+μ^-$ decay and the tau lepton is reconstructed in the hadronic three-prong final state. The measured ratio of branching fractions in this tau decay mode, $$\mathcal{R}^\text{had}_{\mathrm{J}/ψ}$$ = 1.04 $$_{-0.44}^{+0.50}$$, is combined with the previous analysis based on the $τ^+$$$$\to$$$$μ^+ν_μ\barν_τ$$ leptonic decay channel, leading to $$\mathcal{R}_{\mathrm{J}/ψ}$$ = 0.49 $$\pm$$ 0.26. Asmore » this result is consistent with the standard model prediction of 0.258 $$\pm$$ 0.004, no evidence of lepton flavor universality violation is found.« less

A novel anomaly detection algorithm is presented. The Wasserstein normalized autoencoder (WNAE) is a normalized probabilistic model that minimizes the Wasserstein distance between the learned probability distribution—a Boltzmann distribution where the energy is the reconstruction error of the autoencoder (AE)—and the distribution of the training data. This algorithm has been developed and applied to the identification of semivisible jets—conical sprays of visible standard model (SM) particles and invisible dark matter states—with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. Trained on jets of particles from simulated SM processes, the WNAE is shown to learn the probability distribution of the input datamore » in a fully unsupervised fashion, such that it effectively identifies new physics jets as anomalies. The model exhibits stable, convergent training and recovers strong classification performance for a wide range of signals against the selected background process, for which a standard AE fails because of outlier reconstruction. In addition, the model improves upon standard normalized autoencoders while remaining fully agnostic to the signal. The WNAE directly tackles the problem of outlier reconstruction, a common failure mode of autoencoders in anomaly detection tasks.« less

The Higgs boson (H) decay width is determined from the ratio of off- and on-shell production of H $$\to$$ WW $$\to$$ e$νμν$ using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$$^{-1}$$ collected at $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The off-shell signal strength is measured as $$μ_\text{off-shell}$$ = 1.2 $$^{+0.8}_{-0.7}$$. The Higgs boson total decay width is $$Γ_\text{H}$$ = 3.9 $$^{+2.7}_{-2.2}$$ MeV, in agreement with the standard model prediction. The uncertainty in this result represents a factor of three improvement over the previous CMS result in this decay channel.

A search for long-lived particles using final states including a displaced vertex with low-momentum tracks, large missing transverse momentum, and a jet from initial-state radiation is presented. This search uses proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 and 2018, with a total integrated luminosity of 100 fb$$^{−1}$$. This analysis adopts specific supersymmetric (SUSY) coannihilation scenarios as benchmark signal models, characterized by a next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) with a mass difference of less than 25 GeV relative to the lightest SUSY particle, assumed to be a bino-likemore » neutralino. In the top squark $$ \left(\overset{\sim }{\mathrm{t}}\right) $$ NLSP model, the NLSP is a long-lived $$ \overset{\sim }{\mathrm{t}} $$, while in the bino-wino NLSP scenario, the mass-degenerate NLSPs are a wino-like long-lived neutralino and a short-lived chargino. The search excludes top squarks with masses less than 400–1100 GeV and wino-like neutralinos with masses less than 220–550 GeV, depending on the signal parameters, including the mass difference, mass, and lifetime of the long-lived particle. It sets the most stringent limits to date for the $$ \overset{\sim }{\mathrm{t}} $$ and bino-wino NLSP models.[graphic not available: see fulltext]« less

A search for pairs of light neutral pseudoscalar bosons ( $A$ ) resulting from the decay of a Higgs boson is performed. The search is conducted using LHC proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ , collected with the CMS detector in 2016–2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . The $A$ boson decays into a highly collimated electron-positron pair. A novel multivariate algorithm usingmore » tracks and calorimeter information is developed to identify these distinctive signatures, and events are selected with two such merged electron-positron pairs. No significant excess above the standard model background predictions is observed. Upper limits on the branching fraction for $H\to AA\to 4e$ are set at 95% confidence level, for masses between 10 and 100 MeV and proper decay lengths below $100\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ , reaching branching fraction sensitivities as low as ${10}^{-5}$ . This is the first search for Higgs boson decays to four electrons via light pseudoscalars at the LHC. It significantly improves the experimental sensitivity to axionlike particles with masses below 100 MeV .« less

A search for heavy long-lived charged particles at the LHC is presented. Particles interacting with the CMS muon detector across several bunch crossings are searched for using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13.6 TeV collected with the CMS detector in 2024, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.7 fb$$^{-1}$$. This is the first search relying on the novel level-1 trigger scouting data set collected without any trigger selection, allowing correlations between bunch crossings to be analyzed. The results are interpreted as upper limits on the cross sections of several benchmark processes with pair production of heavymore » long-lived charged particles. Upper limits on the fiducial cross section of a heavy long-lived charged particle with $$p_\mathrm{T}$$$$\gt$$ 500 GeV and $$\lvertη\rvert$$$$\lt$$ 0.83 are also set in different ranges of $β=v/c$. This analysis is a crucial proof of concept for the level-1 trigger data scouting system and complements existing searches for heavy long-lived charged particles by extending the sensitivity to lower $$β$$ values.« less

The first observation of electroweak production of a photon in association with two forward jets in proton-proton collisions is presented. The measurement uses data recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2016–2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$$^{−1}$$. The analysis is performed in a region enriched in photon production via vector boson fusion, with a requirement on the transverse momentum of the photon to exceed 200 GeV. The cross section is measured to be $$ {202}_{-32}^{+36} $$ fb, at a significance with respect to the null hypothesis that exceedsmore » five standard deviations. This is in agreement with the standard model prediction of $$ {177}_{-12}^{+13} $$ fb. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of various observables. Limits are set on dimension-6 effective field theory operators that contribute to the WWγ interaction. The observed 95% confidence intervals for the corresponding Warsaw basis Wilson coefficients c$$_{W}$$ and c$$_{HWB}$$ are [−0.11, 0.16] and [−1.6, 1.5], respectively.[graphic not available: see fulltext]« less

We present a search for the pair production of Higgsinos in final states with large missing transverse momentum and either two reconstructed muons or a reconstructed lepton (muon or electron) and an isolated track. The analyzed data correspond to proton-proton collisions with an integrated luminosity of $137{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ , collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The signal scenario assumes four nearly mass degenerate Higgsino mass eigenstates: two neutralino states ${\tilde{\chi }}_2^{more »}$ 0 and ${\tilde{\chi }}_1^0$ with a small mass difference in the range 1–10 GeV and two chargino states ${\tilde{\chi }}_1^{\pm }$ with an intermediate mass. The analysis focuses on the decay of the heavier neutralino into the lighter one and a virtual $Z$ boson, which decays into two same-flavor leptons. The leptons have small transverse momentum and/or a small opening angle between the identified muons. An isolated track is used to recover events in which only one of the two leptons is identified. Multivariate discriminants are used to enhance the sensitivity by efficiently rejecting backgrounds from SM processes or misreconstructed tracks and/or leptons. The search explores a unique phase space and probes a previously unexplored region of the signal model parameter space. Mass differences between the two neutralinos are probed down to 1.5 GeV, assuming a Higgsino mass of 100 GeV. The maximum excluded Higgsino mass is 115 GeV.« less

A search for dark matter particles produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a bottom quark-antiquark pair in proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV is presented. The data, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb$$^{-1}$$. The analysis is performed in exclusive categories targeting both Lorentz-boosted (merged) and resolved b jet pair topologies, covering a wide range of Higgs boson transverse momentum. A statistical combination is made with a previous search using data collected in 2016 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$$^{-1}$$. The observed data agreemore » with the standard model background predictions. Constraints are placed on models predicting new particles or interactions, such as those in the simplified frameworks of baryonic-Z' and 2HDM+a, where the latter is a type-II two-Higgs-doublet model featuring a heavy pseudoscalar with an additional light pseudoscalar. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross section for these models. For the baryonic-Z' model, Z' boson masses below 2.25 TeV are excluded for a dark matter particle candidate mass of 1 GeV. In the 2HDM+a model, heavy pseudoscalar masses between 850 and 1300 GeV are excluded for a light pseudoscalar mass of 350 GeV.« less