The measurements of the inclusive J/ψ yield at midrapidity (\left | y \right | < 0.9) and forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) in Pb−Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The inclusive J/ψ production yields and nuclear modification factors, RAA, are measured as a function of the collision centrality, J/ψ transverse momentum (pT), and rapidity. The J/ψ average transverse momentum and squared transverse momentum (⟨pT⟩ and ⟨pT2⟩) are evaluated as a function of the centrality at midrapidity. Compared to the previous ALICE publications, here the entire Pb−Pb collisions dataset collected during the LHC Run 2 is used, which improves the precision of the measurements and extends the pT coverage. The pT-integrated RAA shows a hint of an increasing trend towards unity from semicentral to central collisions at midrapidity, while it is flat at forward rapidity. The pT-differential RAA shows a strong suppression at high pT with less suppression at low pT where it reaches a larger value at midrapidity compared to forward rapidity. The ratio of the pT-integrated yields of J/ψ to those of D0 mesons is reported for the first time for the central and semicentral event classes at midrapidity. Model calculations implementing charmonium production via the coalescence of charm quarks and antiquarks during the fireball evolution (transport models) or in a statistical approach with thermal weights are in good agreement with the data at low pT. At higher pT, the data are well described by transport models and a model based on energy loss in the strongly-interacting medium produced in nuclear collisions at the LHC.
The ALICE Collaboration investigated strange and multi-strange hadron production in proton-proton collisions at 5.02 TeV across varying charged-particle multiplicities, revealing that transverse momentum spectra harden and particle yields evolve with multiplicity, with the Ω baryon exhibiting a faster-than-linear increase, consistent with collective-like effects observed at higher energies.
At hadron colliders, the net transverse momentum of particles that do not interact with the detector (missing transverse momentum, pTmiss) is a crucial observable in many analyses. In the standard model, pTmiss originates from neutrinos. Many beyond-the-standard-model particles, such as dark matter candidates, are also expected to leave the experimental apparatus undetected. This paper presents a novel pTmiss estimator, DeepMET, which is based on deep neural networks that were developed by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC. The DeepMET algorithm produces a weight for each reconstructed particle based on its properties. The estimator is based on the negative vector sum of the weighted transverse momenta of all reconstructed particles in an event. Compared with other estimators currently employed by CMS, DeepMET improves the pTmiss resolution by 10−30%, shows improvement for a wide range of final states, is easier to train, and is more resilient against the effects of additional proton-proton interactions accompanying the collision of interest.
Energy-energy correlators are constructed by averaging the number of charged
particle pairs within jets, weighted by the product of their transverse
momenta, as a function of the angular separation of the particles within a
pair. They are sensitive to a multitude of perturbative and nonperturbative
quantum chromodynamics phenomena in high-energy particle collisions. Using
lead-lead data recorded with the CMS detector, energy-energy correlators inside
high transverse momentum jets are measured in heavy ion collisions for the
first time. The data are obtained at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of
5.02 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.70 nb−1. A
similar analysis is done for proton-proton collisions at the same
center-of-mass energy to establish a reference. The ratio of lead-lead to
proton-proton energy-energy correlators reveals significant jet substructure
modifications in the quark-gluon plasma. The results are compared to different
models that incorporate either color coherence or medium response effects,
where the two effects predict similar substructure modifications.
This document describes the plans of the ALICE Collaboration for a major upgrade of its detector, referred to as ALICE 3, which is proposed for physics data-taking in the LHC Run 5 and beyond. ALICE 3 will enable an extensive programme to fully exploit the LHC for the study of the properties of strongly interacting matter with high-energy nuclear collisions. The proposed detector layout, based on advanced silicon sensors, features superb pointing resolution, excellent tracking and particle identification over a large acceptance and high readout-rate capabilities. This document discusses the proposed physics programme, the detector concept, and its physics performance for a suite of benchmark measurements.
The LHCb collaboration achieved the first definitive observation of charge-parity (CP) symmetry breaking in baryon decays, measuring a global CP asymmetry of (2.45 1 0.46 1 0.10)% with a 5.2 standard deviation significance in 3b pK+ decays. This discovery extends the understanding of CP violation to baryonic matter, a crucial component of the observable Universe.
The CMS Collaboration at CERN observed an excess of events in top quark pair production near the kinematic threshold, specifically below 360 GeV, with spin properties consistent with a pseudoscalar state. This finding, with a statistical significance exceeding five standard deviations, suggests the production of a quasi-bound ηt toponium state and yields a measured cross section of 8.8 +1.2/-1.4 pb.
Researchers at CERN's CMS Collaboration developed the Wasserstein Normalized Autoencoder (WNAE), an unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm that robustly addresses the outlier reconstruction problem prevalent in autoencoders. The WNAE demonstrates stable training and superior discrimination for new physics signatures like semivisible jets in simulated high-energy physics data.
This paper presents a combination of searches for the nonresonant production of Higgs boson pairs (HH) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data set was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC from 2016 to 2018 and corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. The observed (expected) upper limit on the inclusive HH production cross section relative to the standard model (SM) prediction is found to be 3.5 (2.5). Assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are equal to their SM values, the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling modifier κλ=λ3/λ3SM is constrained in the range −1.35 ≤κλ≤ 6.37 at 95% confidence level. Similarly, for the coupling modifier κ2V, which governs the interaction between two vector bosons and two Higgs bosons, we have excluded κ2V = 0 at more than 5 standard deviations for all values of κλ. At 95% confidence level assuming other couplings are equal to their SM values, κ2V is constrained in the range 0.64 ≤κ2V≤ 1.40. This work also studies HH production in several new physics scenarios, using the Higgs effective field theory (HEFT) framework. The HEFT framework is further exploited to study various ultraviolet complete models with an extended Higgs sector and set constraints on specific parameters. An extrapolation of the results to the integrated luminosity expected after the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC is reported as well.
ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The
experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the
machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In
this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling
procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis
methods for various physics observables.
Quantum Chromodynamics predicts a phase transition from ordinary hadronic
matter to the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at high temperatures and energy
densities, where quarks and gluons (partons) are not confined within hadrons.
The QGP is generated in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. Anisotropic
flow coefficients, quantifying the anisotropic azimuthal expansion of the
produced matter, provide a unique tool to unravel QGP properties. Flow
measurements in high-energy heavy-ion collisions show a distinctive grouping of
anisotropic flow for baryons and mesons at intermediate transverse momentum, a
feature associated with flow being imparted at the quark level, confirming the
existence of the QGP. The observation of QGP-like features in relativistic
proton-proton and proton-ion collisions has sparked debate about possible QGP
formation in smaller collision systems, which remains unresolved. In this
article, we demonstrate for the first time the distinctive grouping of
anisotropic flow for baryons and mesons in high-multiplicity proton-lead and
proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These results are
described by a model that includes hydrodynamic flow followed by hadron
formation via quark coalescence, replicating features observed in heavy-ion
collisions. This observation is consistent with the formation of a partonic
flowing system in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at the LHC.
The first measurement of pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle distributions relative to the momentum vector of a Z boson for low transverse momentum (pT) charged hadrons in lead-lead (PbPb) collisions is presented. By studying the hadrons produced in an event with a high-pT Z boson (40 <pT< 350 GeV), the analysis probes how the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) medium created in these collisions affects the parton recoiling opposite to the Z boson. Utilizing PbPb data at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy sNN = 5.02 TeV from 2018 with an integrated luminosity of 1.67 nb−1 and proton-proton (pp) data at the same energy from 2017 with 301 pb−1, the distributions are examined in bins of charged-hadron pT. A significant modification of the distributions for charged hadrons in the range 1<pT< 2 GeV in PbPb collisions is observed when compared to reference measurements from pp collisions. The data provide new information about the correlation between hard and soft particles in heavy ion collisions, which can be used to test predictions of various jet quenching models. The results are consistent with expectations of a hydrodynamic wake created when the QGP is depleted of energy by the parton propagating through it. Based on comparisons of PbPb data with pp references and predictions from theoretical models, this Letter presents the first evidence of medium-recoil and medium-hole effects caused by a hard probe.
The first observation of single top quark production in association with a W and a Z boson in proton-proton collisions is reported. The analysis uses data at center-of-mass energies of 13 and 13.6 TeV recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 200 fb−1. Events with three or four charged leptons, which can be electrons or muons, are selected. Advanced machine-learning algorithms and improved reconstruction methods, compared to an earlier analysis, result in an unprecedented sensitivity to tWZ production. The measured cross sections for tWZ production are 248 ± 52 fb and 244 ± 74 fb for s =13 and 13.6 TeV, respectively. The signal is established with a statistical significance of 5.8 standard deviations, with 3.5 expected, compared to the background-only hypothesis.
The production of J/ψ mesons in jets is studied in the forward region of
proton-proton collisions using data collected with the LHCb detector at a
center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The fraction of the jet transverse momentum
carried by the J/ψ meson, $z \equiv p_{\rm T}(J/\psi)/p_{\rm T}({\rm
jet}),ismeasuredusingjetswithp_{\rm T}({\rm jet}) > 20$ GeV in the
pseudorapidity range 2.5 < \eta({\rm jet}) < 4.0. The observed z
distribution for J/ψ mesons produced in b-hadron decays is consistent
with expectations. However, the results for prompt J/ψ production do not
agree with predictions based on fixed-order non-relativistic QCD. This is the
first measurement of the pT fraction carried by prompt J/ψ mesons
in jets at any experiment.
A search is performed for charged-lepton flavor violating processes in top quark (t) production and decay. The data were collected by the CMS experiment from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. The selected events are required to contain one opposite-sign electron-muon pair, a third charged lepton (electron or muon), and at least one jet of which no more than one is associated with a bottom quark. Boosted decision trees are used to distinguish signal from background, exploiting differences in the kinematics of the final states particles. The data are consistent with the standard model expectation. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed in the context of effective field theory on the Wilson coefficients, which range between 0.024-0.424 TeV−2 depending on the flavor of the associated light quark and the Lorentz structure of the interaction. These limits are converted to upper limits on branching fractions involving up (charm) quarks, t → eμu (t → eμc), of 0.032 (0.498) × 10−6, 0.022 (0.369) × 10−6, and 0.012 (0.216) × 10−6 for tensor-like, vector-like, and scalar-like interactions, respectively.
The observation of the production of four top quarks in proton-proton collisions is reported, based on a data sample collected by the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016-2018 at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. Events with two same-sign, three, or four charged leptons (electrons and muons) and additional jets are analyzed. Compared to previous results in these channels, updated identification techniques for charged leptons and jets originating from the hadronization of b quarks, as well as a revised multivariate analysis strategy to distinguish the signal process from the main backgrounds, lead to an improved expected signal significance of 4.9 standard deviations above the background-only hypothesis. Four top quark production is observed with a significance of 5.6 standard deviations, and its cross section is measured to be 17.7 −3.5+3.7 (stat) −1.9+2.3 (syst) fb, in agreement with the available standard model predictions.
First measurements of the azimuthal anisotropy of neutral pions produced in PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV are presented. The amplitudes of the second Fourier component (v2) of the neutral pion azimuthal distributions are extracted using an event-plane technique. The values of v2 are studied as a function of the neutral pion transverse momentum (pt) for different classes of collision centrality in the kinematic range 1.6 < pt < 8.0 GeV, within the pseudorapidity interval abs(eta) < 0.8. The CMS measurements of v2(pt) are similar to previously reported neutral pion azimuthal anisotropy results from sqrt(s(NN)) = 200 GeV AuAu collisions at RHIC, despite a factor of about 14 increase in the center-of-mass energy. In the momentum range 2.5 < pt < 5.0 GeV, the neutral pion anisotropies are found to be smaller than those observed by CMS for inclusive charged particles.
The production of π±, K±, KS0,
K∗(892)0, p, ϕ(1020), Λ, Ξ−,
Ω−, and their antiparticles was measured in inelastic proton-proton
(pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV at
midrapidity (|y|<0.5) as a function of transverse momentum (pT)
using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. Furthermore, the single-particle
pT distributions of KS0, Λ, and
Λ in inelastic pp collisions at s = 7 TeV are
reported here for the first time. The pT distributions are studied at
midrapidity within the transverse momentum range 0≤pT≤20
GeV/c, depending on the particle species. The pT spectra,
integrated yields, and particle yield ratios are discussed as a function of
collision energy and compared with measurements at lower s and with
results from various general-purpose QCD-inspired Monte Carlo models. A
hardening of the spectra at high pT with increasing collision energy
is observed, which is similar for all particle species under study. The
transverse mass and xT≡2pT/s scaling properties
of hadron production are also studied. As the collision energy increases from
s = 7 to 13 TeV, the yields of non- and single-strange hadrons
normalized to the pion yields remain approximately constant as a function of
s, while ratios for multi-strange hadrons indicate enhancements. The
pT-differential cross sections of π±, K± and
p (p) are compared with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD calculations, which are found to overestimate the cross
sections for π± and p (p) at high
pT.
Meson-baryon systems with strangeness content provide a unique laboratory for investigating the strong interaction and testing theoretical models of hadron structure and dynamics. In this work, the measured correlation functions for oppositely charged Ξ−K and Ξ−π pairs obtained in high-multiplicity pp collisions at s=13 TeV at the LHC are presented. For the first time, high-precision data on the Ξ−K interaction are delivered at small relative momenta. The scattering lengths, extracted via the Lednický-Lyuboshits expression of the pair wavefunction, indicate a repulsive and a shallow attractive strong interaction for the Ξ−K and Ξ−π systems, respectively. The Ξ(1620) and Ξ(1690) states are observed in the Ξ−π correlation function and their properties, mass and width, are determined. These measurements are in agreement with other available results. Such high-precision data can help refine the understanding of these resonant states, provide stronger constraints for chirally motivated potentials, and address the key challenge of describing the coupled-channel dynamics that may give rise to molecular configurations.