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Abstract Despite the f₀(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$) meson, a tetraquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}q\overline{q}$) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ $K\overline{K}$) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ $q\overline{q}g$) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f₀(980) state is an ordinary$${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies (v₂) with the number of constituent quarks (n_q), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f₀(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f₀(980) →π⁺π⁻, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and itsv₂is measured as a function of transverse momentum (p_T). It is found that then_q= 2 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$state) hypothesis is favored overn_q= 4 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}q\overline{q}$or$${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ $K\overline{K}$states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in thep_T< 10, 8, or 6 GeV/cranges, respectively, and overn_q= 3 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ $q\overline{q}g$hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in thep_T< 8 GeV/crange. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f₀(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates. 

A search for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of the top quark ( $t$) and the Higgs boson ( $H$) is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data collected in 2016–2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. Events containing a pair of leptons with the same-sign electric charge and at least one jet are considered. The results are used to constrain the branching fraction ( $\mathcal{B}$) of the top quark decaying to a Higgs boson and an up ( $u$) or charm ( $c$) quark. No significant excess above the estimated background was found. The observed (expected) upper limits at a 95% confidence level are found to be 0.072% (0.059%) for $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hu)$and 0.043% (0.062%) for $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hc)$. These results are combined with two other searches performed by the CMS Collaboration for flavor-changing neutral current interactions of top quarks and Higgs bosons in final states where the Higgs boson decays to either a pair of photons or a pair of bottom quarks. The resulting observed (expected) upper limits at the 95% confidence level are 0.019% (0.027%) for $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hu)$and 0.037% (0.035%) for $\mathcal{B}(t\to Hc)$. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Measurements of fiducial and total inclusive cross sections for W and Z boson production are presented in proton-proton collisions at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$= 5.02 and 13 TeV. Electron and muon decay modes (ℓ= e orμ) are studied in the data collected with the CMS detector in 2017, in dedicated runs with reduced instantaneous luminosity. The data sets correspond to integrated luminosities of 298 ± 6 pb⁻¹at 5.02 TeV and 206 ± 5 pb⁻¹at 13 TeV. Measured values of the products of the total inclusive cross sections and the branching fractions at 5.02 TeV areσ(pp→W + X)$$ \mathcal{B} $$ $B$(W→ ℓν) = 7300±10 (stat)±60 (syst)±140 (lumi) pb, andσ(pp→Z+X)$$ \mathcal{B} $$ $B$(Z→ ℓ⁺ℓ⁻) = 669±2 (stat)±6 (syst)±13 (lumi) pb for the dilepton invariant mass in the range of 60–120 GeV. The corresponding results at 13 TeV are 20480±10 (stat)±170 (syst)±470 (lumi) pb and 1952±4 (stat)±18 (syst)±45 (lumi) pb. The measured values agree with cross section calculations at next-to-next-to-leading-order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Fiducial and total inclusive cross sections, ratios of cross sections of W⁺and W⁻production as well as inclusive W and Z boson production, and ratios of these measurements at 5.02 and 13 TeV are reported. 

A search is presented for fractionally charged particles with charges below $1e$, using their small energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to observe a signal. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collisions collected at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$in 2016–2018 at the CERN LHC. This is the first search at the LHC for new particles with a charge between $e/3$and $0.9e$, including an extension of previous results at a charge of $2e/3$. Masses up to 640 GeV and charges as low as $e/3$are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits to date for the considered Drell-Yan-like production mode. 

Nuclear medium effects on $B^{+}$meson production are studied using the binary-collision scaled cross section ratio between events of different charged-particle multiplicities from proton-lead collisions. Data, collected by the CMS experiment in 2016 at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=8.16\mathrm{TeV}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $175{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$, were used. The scaling factors in the ratio are determined using a novel approach based on the $Z\to {\mu }^{-}{\mu }^{+}$cross sections measured in the same events. The scaled ratio for $B^{+}$is consistent with unity for all event multiplicities, putting stringent constraints on nuclear modification for heavy flavor. © 2025 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2025CERN 

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. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Differential cross sections for top quark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ $t\overline{t}$) production are measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV using a sample of events containing two oppositely charged leptons. The data were recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. The differential cross sections are measured as functions of kinematic observables of the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ $t\overline{t}$system, the top quark and antiquark and their decay products, as well as of the number of additional jets in the event. The results are presented as functions of up to three variables and are corrected to the parton and particle levels. When compared to standard model predictions based on quantum chromodynamics at different levels of accuracy, it is found that the calculations do not always describe the observed data. The deviations are found to be largest for the multi-differential cross sections.