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1. Test of lepton flavor universality in semileptonic $B_c^{+}$ meson decays in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.L051102  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (March 2025, Physical Review D)

   A measurement of the ratio of branching fractions $R\left(J/\psi \right)=\mathcal{B}(B_c^{+}\to J/\psi {\tau }^{+}{\nu }_{\tau })/\mathcal{B}(B_c^{+}\to J/\psi {\mu }^{+}{\nu }_{\mu })$in the $J/\psi \to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$, ${\tau }^{+}\to {\mu }^{+}{\nu }_{\mu }{\overline{\nu }}_{\tau }$decay channel is presented. This measurement uses a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of $13\mathrm{TeV}$by the CMS experiment in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $59.7{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. The measured ratio, $R\left(J/\psi \right)=0.17_{-0.17}^{+0.18}{\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)}_{-0.22}^{+0.21}{\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)}_{-0.18}^{+0.19}\left(\mathrm{theo}\right)=0.17\pm 0.33$, agrees with the value of $0.2582\pm 0.0038$predicted by the standard model, which assumes lepton flavor universality. By testing lepton flavor universality, this measurement is a probe of new physics using $B_c^{+}$mesons, which are currently only produced at the LHC. 

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2. Measurements of polarization and spin correlation and observation of entanglement in top quark pairs using $\mathrm{lepton}+\text{jets}$ events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.112016  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Benato, L; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; et al (December 2024, Physical Review D)

   Measurements of the polarization and spin correlation in top quark pairs ( $t\overline{t}$) are presented using events with a single electron or muon and jets in the final state. The measurements are based on proton-proton collision data from the LHC at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. All coefficients of the polarization vectors and the spin correlation matrix are extracted simultaneously by performing a binned likelihood fit to the data. The measurement is performed inclusively and in bins of additional observables, such as the mass of the $t\overline{t}$system and the top quark scattering angle in the $t\overline{t}$rest frame. The measured polarization and spin correlation are in agreement with the standard model. From the measured spin correlation, conclusions on the $t\overline{t}$spin entanglement are drawn by applying the Peres-Horodecki criterion. The standard model predicts entangled spins for $t\overline{t}$states at the production threshold and at high masses of the $t\overline{t}$system. Entanglement is observed for the first time in events at high $t\overline{t}$mass, where a large fraction of the $t\overline{t}$decays are spacelike separated, with an expected and observed significance of above 5 standard deviations. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 

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3. Search for high-mass exclusive diphoton production with tagged protons in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.012010  

   Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Escalante_Del_Valle, A; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (July 2024, Physical Review D)

   A search is presented for high-mass exclusive diphoton production via photon-photon fusion in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$in events where both protons survive the interaction. The analysis utilizes data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $103{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$collected in 2016–2018 with the central CMS detector and the CMS and TOTEM precision proton spectrometer (PPS). Events that have two photons with high transverse momenta ( $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\gamma }>100\mathrm{GeV}$), back-to-back in azimuth, and with a large diphoton invariant mass ( $m_{\gamma \gamma }>350\mathrm{GeV}$) are selected. To remove the dominant inclusive diphoton backgrounds, the kinematic properties of the protons detected in PPS are required to match those of the central diphoton system. Only events having opposite-side forward protons detected with a fractional momentum loss between 0.035 and 0.15 (0.18) for the detectors on the negative (positive) side of CMS are considered. One exclusive diphoton candidate is observed for an expected background of 1.1 events. Limits at 95% confidence level are derived for the four-photon anomalous coupling parameters $\left|{\zeta }_1\right|<0.073{\mathrm{TeV}}^{-4}$and $\left|{\zeta }_2\right|<0.15{\mathrm{TeV}}^{-4}$, using an effective field theory. Additionally, upper limits are placed on the production of axionlike particles with coupling strength to photons $f^{-1}$that varies from $0.03{\mathrm{TeV}}^{-1}$to $1{\mathrm{TeV}}^{-1}$over the mass range from 500 to 2000 GeV. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS and TOTEMs Collaboration2024CERN 

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4. Search for bottom-type vectorlike quark pair production in dileptonic and fully hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.052004  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (September 2024, Physical Review D)

   A search is described for the production of a pair of bottom-type vectorlike quarks ( $B$VLQs) with mass greater than 1000 GeV. Each $B$VLQ decays into a $b$quark and a Higgs boson, a $b$quark and a $Z$boson, or a $t$quark and a $W$boson. This analysis considers both fully hadronic final states and those containing a charged lepton pair from a $Z$boson decay. The products of the $H\to bb$boson decay and of the hadronic $Z$or $W$boson decays can be resolved as two distinct jets or merged into a single jet, so the final states are classified by the number of reconstructed jets. The analysis uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$with the CMS detector at the LHC from 2016 to 2018. No excess over the expected background is observed. Lower limits are set on the $B$VLQ mass at the 95% confidence level. These depend on the $B$VLQ branching fractions and are 1570 and 1540 GeV for 100% $B\to bH$and 100% $B\to bZ$, respectively. In most cases, the mass limits obtained exceed previous limits by at least 100 GeV. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 

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5. Observation of $t\overline{t}$ Production in Pb+Pb Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ with the ATLAS Detector

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.142301  

   Aad, G; Aakvaag, E; Abbott, B; Abdelhameed, S; Abeling, K; Abicht, N J; Abidi, S H; Aboelela, M; Aboulhorma, A; Abramowicz, H; et al (April 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   Top-quark pair production is observed in lead–lead ( $\mathrm{Pb}+\mathrm{Pb}$) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$at the Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector. The data sample was recorded in 2015 and 2018, amounting to an integrated luminosity of $1.9{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$. Events with exactly one electron and one muon and at least two jets are selected. Top-quark pair production is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 5.0 (4.1) standard deviations. The measured top-quark pair production cross section is ${\sigma }_{t\overline{t}}=3.6{}_{-0.9}^{+1.0}\left(\mathrm{stat}\right){}_{-0.5}^{+0.8}\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{b}$, with a total relative uncertainty of 31%, and is consistent with theoretical predictions using a range of different nuclear parton distribution functions. The observation of this process consolidates the evidence of the existence of all quark flavors in the preequilibrium stage of the quark-gluon plasma at very high energy densities, similar to the conditions present in the early Universe. © 2025 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2025CERN 

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