A search for invisible decays of Higgs bosons is performed using the vector boson fusion and associated ZH production modes. In the ZH mode, the Z boson is required to decay to a pair of charged leptons or a [Formula: see text] quark pair. The searches use the 8 [Formula: see text] pp collision dataset collected by the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 19.7 [Formula: see text]. Certain channels include data from 7 [Formula: see text] collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 [Formula: see text]. The searches are sensitive to non-standard-model invisible decays of the recently observed Higgs boson, as well as additional Higgs bosons with similar production modes and large invisible branching fractions. In all channels, the observed data are consistent with the expected standard model backgrounds. Limits are set on the production cross section times invisible branching fraction, as a function of the Higgs boson mass, for the vector boson fusion and ZH production modes. By combining all channels, and assuming standard model Higgs boson cross sections and acceptances, the observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] is found to be 0.58 (0.44) at 95 % confidence level. We interpret this limit in terms of a Higgs-portal model of dark matter interactions.
A search for heavy, right-handed neutrinos, [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]), and right-handed [Formula: see text] bosons, which arise in the left-right symmetric extensions of the standard model, has been performed by the CMS experiment. The search was based on a sample of two lepton plus two jet events collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8[Formula: see text] corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 [Formula: see text]. For models with strict left-right symmetry, and assuming only one [Formula: see text] flavor contributes significantly to the [Formula: see text] decay width, the region in the two-dimensional [Formula: see text] mass plane excluded at a 95 % confidence level extends to approximately [Formula: see text] and covers a large range of neutrino masses below the [Formula: see text] boson mass, depending on the value of [Formula: see text]. This search significantly extends the [Formula: see text] exclusion region beyond previous results.
The WZ production cross section is measured by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9[Formula: see text] collected at [Formula: see text], and 19.6[Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text]. The measurements are performed using the fully-leptonic WZ decay modes with electrons and muons in the final state. The measured cross sections for [Formula: see text] are [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. Differential cross sections with respect to the [Formula: see text] boson [Formula: see text], the leading jet [Formula: see text], and the number of jets are obtained using the [Formula: see text] data. The results are consistent with standard model predictions and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings are obtained.
The nuclear modification factor [Formula: see text] and the azimuthal anisotropy coefficient [Formula: see text] of prompt and nonprompt (i.e. those from decays of b hadrons) [Formula: see text] mesons, measured from PbPb and pp collisions at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] at the LHC, are reported. The results are presented in several event centrality intervals and several kinematic regions, for transverse momenta [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and rapidity [Formula: see text], extending down to [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] in the [Formula: see text] range. The [Formula: see text] of prompt [Formula: see text] is found to be nonzero, but with no strong dependence on centrality, rapidity, or [Formula: see text] over the full kinematic range studied. The measured [Formula: see text] of nonprompt [Formula: see text] is consistent with zero. The [Formula: see text] of prompt [Formula: see text] exhibits a suppression that increases from peripheral to central collisions but does not vary strongly as a function of either y or [Formula: see text] in the fiducial range. The nonprompt [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] shows a suppression which becomes stronger as rapidity or [Formula: see text] increases. The [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of open and hidden charm, and of open charm and beauty, are compared.
This paper reports the measurement of [Formula: see text] meson production in proton-proton ([Formula: see text]) and proton-lead ([Formula: see text]) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of [Formula: see text] by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The data samples used in the analysis correspond to integrated luminosities of 28[Formula: see text] and 35[Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] collisions, respectively. Prompt and nonprompt [Formula: see text] mesons, the latter produced in the decay of [Formula: see text] hadrons, are measured in their dimuon decay channels. Differential cross sections are measured in the transverse momentum range of [Formula: see text], and center-of-mass rapidity ranges of [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) and [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]). The nuclear modification factor, [Formula: see text], is measured as a function of both [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Small modifications to the [Formula: see text] cross sections are observed in [Formula: see text] relative to [Formula: see text] collisions. The ratio of [Formula: see text] production cross sections in [Formula: see text]-going and Pb-going directions, [Formula: see text], studied as functions of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], shows a significant decrease for increasing transverse energy deposited at large pseudorapidities. These results, which cover a wide kinematic range, provide new insight on the role of cold nuclear matter effects on prompt and nonprompt [Formula: see text] production.
The first measurement of the jet mass [Formula: see text] of top quark jets produced in [Formula: see text] events from pp collisions at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] is reported for the jet with the largest transverse momentum [Formula: see text] in highly boosted hadronic top quark decays. The data sample, collected with the CMS detector, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text]. The measurement is performed in the lepton+jets channel in which the products of the semileptonic decay [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] is an electron or muon, are used to select [Formula: see text] events with large Lorentz boosts. The products of the fully hadronic decay [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] are reconstructed using a single Cambridge-Aachen jet with distance parameter [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. The [Formula: see text] cross section as a function of [Formula: see text] is unfolded at the particle level and is used to test the modelling of highly boosted top quark production. The peak position of the [Formula: see text] distribution is sensitive to the top quark mass [Formula: see text], and the data are used to extract a value of [Formula: see text] to assess this sensitivity.
A search has been performed for long-lived particles that could have come to rest within the CMS detector, using the time intervals between LHC beam crossings. The existence of such particles could be deduced from observation of their decays via energy deposits in the CMS calorimeter appearing at times that are well separated from any proton-proton collisions. Using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.6[Formula: see text] of 8[Formula: see text] proton-proton collisions, and a search interval corresponding to 281 h of trigger livetime, 10 events are observed, with a background prediction of [Formula: see text] events. Limits are presented at 95 % confidence level on gluino and top squark production, for over 13 orders of magnitude in the mean proper lifetime of the stopped particle. Assuming a cloud model of R-hadron interactions, a gluino with mass [Formula: see text]1000[Formula: see text] and a top squark with mass [Formula: see text]525[Formula: see text] are excluded, for lifetimes between 1 [Formula: see text]s and 1000[Formula: see text]. These results are the most stringent constraints on stopped particles to date.
Observation of the diphoton decay mode of the recently discovered Higgs boson and measurement of some of its properties are reported. The analysis uses the entire dataset collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions during the 2011 and 2012 LHC running periods. The data samples correspond to integrated luminosities of 5.1[Formula: see text]at [Formula: see text] and 19.7[Formula: see text]at 8[Formula: see text] . A clear signal is observed in the diphoton channel at a mass close to 125[Formula: see text] with a local significance of [Formula: see text], where a significance of [Formula: see text] is expected for the standard model Higgs boson. The mass is measured to be [Formula: see text] , and the best-fit signal strength relative to the standard model prediction is [Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]. Additional measurements include the signal strength modifiers associated with different production mechanisms, and hypothesis tests between spin-0 and spin-2 models.
A measurement is presented of differential cross sections for Higgs boson (H) production in pp collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]. The analysis exploits the [Formula: see text] decay in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text] collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross section is measured as a function of the kinematic properties of the diphoton system and of the associated jets. Results corrected for detector effects are compared with predictions at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as with predictions beyond the standard model. For isolated photons with pseudorapidities [Formula: see text], and with the photon of largest and next-to-largest transverse momentum ([Formula: see text]) divided by the diphoton mass [Formula: see text] satisfying the respective conditions of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], the total fiducial cross section is [Formula: see text][Formula: see text].
Measurements of the [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8[Formula: see text] are presented. Candidate events for the leptonic decay mode [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] denotes an electron or a muon, are reconstructed and selected from data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 (19.6)[Formula: see text] at 7 (8)[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS experiment. The measured cross sections, [Formula: see text] at 7[Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] at 8[Formula: see text], are in good agreement with the standard model predictions with next-to-leading-order accuracy. The selected data are analyzed to search for anomalous triple gauge couplings involving the [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] final state. In the absence of any deviation from the standard model predictions, limits are set on the relevant parameters. These limits are then combined with the previously published CMS results for [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] in 4[Formula: see text] final states, yielding the most stringent constraints on the anomalous couplings.