A search for a heavy scalar boson H decaying into a pair of lighter standard-model-like 125 GeV Higgs bosons h and a search for a heavy pseudoscalar boson A decaying into a Z and an h boson are ...presented. The searches are performed on a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, collected by CMS in 2012. A final state consisting of two tau leptons and two b jets is used to search for the H to hh decay. A final state consisting of two tau leptons from the h boson decay, and two additional leptons from the Z boson decay, is used to search for the decay A to Zh. The results are interpreted in the context of both the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model and two-Higgs-doublet models. No excess is found above the standard model expectation and upper limits are set on the heavy boson production cross sections in the mass ranges 260<mH<350 GeV and 220<mA<350 GeV.
The charge asymmetry in t t-bar events is measured using dilepton final states produced in pp collisions at the LHC at sqrt(s)=8 TeV. The data sample, collected with the CMS detector, corresponds to ...an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns. The measurements are performed using events with two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and two or more jets, where at least one of the jets is identified as originating from a bottom quark. The charge asymmetry is measured from differences in kinematic distributions, unfolded to the parton level, of positively and negatively charged top quarks and leptons. The t t-bar and leptonic charge asymmetries are found to be 0.011 +/- 0.011 (stat) +/- 0.007 (syst) and 0.003 +/- 0.006 (stat) +/- 0.003 (syst), respectively. These results, as well as charge asymmetry measurements made as a function of t t-bar system kinematic properties, are in agreement with predictions of the standard model.
We present a measurement of b jet transverse momentum (pt) spectra in proton-lead (pPb) collisions using a dataset corresponding to about 35 inverse nanobarns collected with the CMS detector at the ...LHC. Jets from b quark fragmentation are found by exploiting the long lifetime of hadrons containing a b quark through tagging methods using distributions of the secondary vertex mass and displacement. Extracted cross sections for b jets are scaled by the effective number of nucleon-nucleon collisions and are compared to a reference obtained from PYTHIA simulations of pp collisions. The PYTHIA-based estimate of the nuclear modification factor is found to be 1.22 +/- 0.15 (stat+syst pPb) +/- 0.27 (syst PYTHIA) averaged over all jets with pt between 55 and 400 GeV/c and with abs(etalab)<2. We also compare this result to predictions from models using perturbative calculations in quantum chromodynamics.
A direct search for lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs boson (H) in the H to e tau and H to e mu channels is described. The data sample used in the search was collected in proton-proton ...collisions at sqrt(s)=8 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. No evidence is found for lepton flavour violating decays in either final state. Upper limits on the branching fractions, B(H to e tau )<0.69% and B(H to e mu)< 0.035%, are set at the 95% confidence level. The constraint set on B(H to e tau) is an order of magnitude more stringent than the existing indirect limits. The limits are used to constrain the corresponding flavour violating Yukawa couplings, absent in the standard model.
The CP-violating weak phase phis of the Bs meson and the decay width difference DeltaGammas of the Bs light and heavy mass eigenstates are measured with the CMS detector at the LHC using a data ...sample of Bs to J/Psi phi(1020) to mu+mu-K+K- decays. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. A total of 49200 reconstructed Bs decays are used to extract the values of phis and DeltaGammas by performing a time-dependent and flavour-tagged angular analysis of the mu+mu-K+K- final state. The weak phase is measured to be phis = -0.075 +/- 0.097 (stat) +/- 0.031 (sys) rad, and the decay width difference is DeltaGammas = 0.095 +/- 0.013 (stat) +/- 0.007 (sys) inverse picoseconds.
Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp to (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) to l+l-l'+l'-, where $l, l' = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. ...The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 14.6 +1.9/-1.8 (stat) +0.5/-0.3 (syst) +/- 0.2 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, is measured for events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 < ml+l-, ml'+l'- < 120 GeV. The Z boson branching fraction to four leptons is measured to be B(Z to l+l-l'+l'-) = 4.9 +0.8/-0.7 (stat) +0.3/-0.2}(syst) +0.2/-0.1 (theo) +/- 0.1 (lumi)E-6 for the four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 < ml+l-l'+l'- < 100 GeV and dilepton mass ml+l'- > 4 GeV for all opposite-sign lepton pairs. The results are in agreement with standard model predictions.
Results are presented from a search for supersymmetric particles in scenarios with a compressed mass spectrum. The data sample corresponds to 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions ...recorded by the CMS experiment at sqrt(s)=8 TeV. The search targets top squark pair production in scenarios with mass differences Delta m = m(top squark) - m(neutralino) below the W-boson mass and with top-squark decays in the four-body mode (top squark to b l nu neutralino), where the neutralino is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The signature includes a high transverse momentum (pt) jet associated with initial-state radiation, one or two low-pt leptons, and significant missing transverse energy. The event yields observed in data are consistent with the expected background contributions from standard model processes. Limits are set on the cross section for top squark pair production as a function of the top squark and LSP masses. Assuming a 100% branching fraction for the four-body decay mode, top-squark masses below 316 GeV are excluded for Delta m=25 GeV at 95% CL. The dilepton data are also interpreted under the assumption of chargino-neutralino production, with subsequent decays to sleptons or sneutrinos. Assuming a difference between the common lightest chargino/next lightest neutralino mass and the LSP mass of 20 GeV and a tau-enriched decay scenario, masses in the range m(chargino)<307 GeV are excluded at 95% CL.
A search is performed for heavy Majorana neutrinos (N) decaying into a W boson and a lepton using the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. A signature of two jets and either two same sign ...electrons or a same sign electron-muon pair is searched for using 19.7 inverse-femtobarns of data collected during 2012 in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data are found to be consistent with the expected standard model (SM) background and, in the context of a Type-1 seesaw mechanism, upper limits are set on the cross section times branching fraction for production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the mass range between 40 and 500 GeV. The results are additionally interpreted as limits on the mixing between the heavy Majorana neutrinos and the SM neutrinos. In the mass range considered, the upper limits range between 0.00015 - 0.72 for |VeN|^2 and 6.6E-5 - 0.47 for |VeNV*muN|^2 / ( |VeN|^2 + |VmuN|^2 ), where VlN is the mixing element describing the mixing of the heavy neutrino with the SM neutrino of flavour l. These limits are the most restrictive direct limits for heavy Majorana neutrino masses above 200 GeV.
The inclusive cross section for top quark pair production is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to 5.0 and 19.7 invers-femtobarns, respectively, with the CMS ...experiment at the LHC. The cross sections are measured in the electron-muon channel using a binned likelihood fit to multi-differential final state distributions related to identified b quark jets and other jets in the event. The measured cross section values are 173.6 +/- 2.1 (stat) +4.5-4.0 (syst) +/- 3.8 (lumi) pb at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, and 244.9 +/- 1.4 (stat) +6.3-5.5 (syst) +/- 6.4 (lumi) pb at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, in good agreement with QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy. The ratio of the cross sections measured at 7 and 8 TeV is determined, as well as cross sections in the fiducial regions defined by the acceptance requirements on the two charged leptons in the final state. The cross section results are used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the theoretically predicted cross section on the mass, giving a best result of 173.8 +1.7-1.8 GeV. The data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are also used to set limits, for two neutralino mass values, on the pair production of supersymmetric top squarks with masses close to the top quark mass.
A search for exclusive or quasi-exclusive gamma-gamma to W+W- production, via pp to p(*) W+W- p(*) to p(*) mu+/- e-/+ at sqrt(s)=8 TeV, is reported using data corresponding to an integrated ...luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. Events are selected by requiring the presence of an electron-muon pair with large transverse momentum pt(mu+/- e-/+>) 30 GeV, and no associated charged particles detected from the same vertex. The 8 TeV results are combined with the previous 7 TeV results (obtained for 5.05 inverse femtobarns of data). In the signal region, 13 (2) events are observed over an expected background of 3.9 +/- 0.6 (0.84 +/-0.15) events for 8 (7) TeV, resulting in a combined excess of 3.4 sigma over the background-only hypothesis. The observed yields and kinematic distributions are compatible with the standard model prediction for exclusive and quasi-exclusive gamma-gamma to W+W- production. Upper limits on the anomalous quartic gauge coupling operators aW;0,C (dimension-6) and fM0,1,2,3 (dimension-8), the most stringent to date, are derived from the measured dilepton transverse momentum spectrum.