A search is presented for τ slepton pairs produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV . The search is carried out in events containing two τ leptons in the final state, on the assumption that each τ slepton decays primarily to a τ lepton and a neutralino. Events are considered in which each τ lepton decays to one or more hadrons and a neutrino, or in which one of the τ leptons decays instead to an electron or a muon and two neutrinos. The data, collected with the CMS detector in 2016 and 2017, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 77.2 fb - 1 . The observed data are consistent with the standard model background expectation. The results are used to set 95% confidence level upper limits on the cross section for τ slepton pair production in various models for τ slepton masses between 90 and 200 GeV and neutralino masses of 1, 10, and 20 GeV . In the case of purely left-handed τ slepton production and decay to a τ lepton and a neutralino with a mass of 1 GeV , the strongest limit is obtained for a τ slepton mass of 125 GeV at a factor of 1.14 larger than the theoretical cross section.
The standard model (SM) production of four top quarks ( t t ¯ t t ¯ ) in proton-proton collisions is studied by the CMS Collaboration. The data sample, collected during the 2016-2018 data taking of the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb - 1 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV . The events are required to contain two same-sign charged leptons (electrons or muons) or at least three leptons, and jets. The observed and expected significances for the t t ¯ t t ¯ signal are respectively 2.6 and 2.7 standard deviations, and the t t ¯ t t ¯ cross section is measured to be 12 . 6 - 5.2 + 5.8 fb . The results are used to constrain the Yukawa coupling of the top quark to the Higgs boson, y t , yielding a limit of | y t / y t SM | < 1.7 at 95 % confidence level, where y t SM is the SM value of y t . They are also used to constrain the oblique parameter of the Higgs boson in an effective field theory framework, H ^ < 0.12 . Limits are set on the production of a heavy scalar or pseudoscalar boson in Type-II two-Higgs-doublet and simplified dark matter models, with exclusion limits reaching 350-470 GeV and 350-550 GeV for scalar and pseudoscalar bosons, respectively. Upper bounds are also set on couplings of the top quark to new light particles.
Two related searches for phenomena beyond the standard model (BSM) are performed using events with hadronic jets and significant transverse momentum imbalance. The results are based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 Te , collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016-2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb - 1 . The first search is inclusive, based on signal regions defined by the hadronic energy in the event, the jet multiplicity, the number of jets identified as originating from bottom quarks, and the value of the kinematic variable M T 2 for events with at least two jets. For events with exactly one jet, the transverse momentum of the jet is used instead. The second search looks in addition for disappearing tracks produced by BSM long-lived charged particles that decay within the volume of the tracking detector. No excess event yield is observed above the predicted standard model background. This is used to constrain a range of BSM models that predict the following: the pair production of gluinos and squarks in the context of supersymmetry models conserving R-parity, with or without intermediate long-lived charginos produced in the decay chain; the resonant production of a colored scalar state decaying to a massive Dirac fermion and a quark; or the pair production of scalar and vector leptoquarks each decaying to a neutrino and a top, bottom, or light-flavor quark. In most of the cases, the results obtained are the most stringent constraints to date.