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A<sc>bstract</sc> Measurements of light-by-light scattering (LbL,γγ → γγ) and the Breit-Wheeler process (BW,γγ →e⁺e⁻) are reported in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb⁻¹, was collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2018. Events with an exclusively producedγγore⁺e⁻pair with invariant massesm^γγ,ee>5 GeV, along with other fiducial criteria, are selected. The measured BW fiducial production cross section,σ_fid(γγ → e⁺e⁻) = 263.5±1.8(stat)±17.8(syst)μb, as well as the differential distributions for various kinematic observables, are in agreement with leading-order quantum electrodynamics predictions complemented with final-state photon radiation. The measured differential BW cross sections allow discrimination between different theoretical descriptions of the photon flux of the lead ion. In the LbL final state, 26 exclusive diphoton candidate events are observed compared with 12.0 ± 2.9 expected for the background. Combined with previous results, the observed significance of the LbL signal with respect to the background-only hypothesis is above five standard deviations. The measured fiducial LbL scattering cross section,σ_fid(γγ→γγ) = 107 ± 24(stat) ± 13(syst) nb, is in agreement with next- to-leading-order predictions. Limits on the production of axion-like particles coupled to photons are set over the mass range 5–100 GeV, including the most stringent limits to date in the range of 5–10 GeV. 

Abstract “Soft” muons with a transverse momentum below 10 GeV are featured in many processes studied by the CMS experiment, such as decays of heavy-flavor hadrons or rare tau lepton decays. Maximizing the selection efficiency for these muons, while simultaneously suppressing backgrounds from long-lived light-flavor hadron decays, is therefore important for the success of the CMS physics program. Multivariate techniques have been shown to deliver better muon identification performance than traditional selection techniques. To take full advantage of the large data set currently being collected during Run 3 of the CERN LHC, a new multivariate classifier based on a gradient-boosted decision tree has been developed. It offers a significantly improved separation of signal and background muons compared to a similar classifier used for the analysis of the Run 2 data. The performance of the new classifier is evaluated on a data set collected with the CMS detector in 2022 and 2023, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62 fb^-1. 

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> A search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹collected at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC is presented. Events are selected with a charged lepton originating from the primary vertex associated with the proton-proton interaction, as well as a second charged lepton and a hadronic jet associated with a secondary vertex that corresponds to the semileptonic decay of a long-lived HNL. No excess of events above the standard model expectation is observed. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are evaluated for HNLs that mix with electron and/or muon neutrinos. Limits are presented in the mass range of 1–16.5 GeV, with excluded square mixing parameter values reaching as low as 2 × 10⁻⁷. For masses above 11 GeV, the presented limits exceed all previous results in the semileptonic decay channel, and for some of the considered scenarios are the strongest to date. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> An analysis of the production of a Higgs boson (H) in association with a top quark-antiquark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$) or a single top quark (tH) is presented. The Higgs boson decay into a bottom quark-antiquark pair (H →$$ \textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}} $$ $b\overline{b}$) is targeted, and three different final states of the top quark decays are considered, defined by the number of leptons (electrons or muons) in the event. The analysis utilises proton-proton collision data collected at the CERN LHC with the CMS experiment at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$= 13 TeV in 2016–2018, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. The observed$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$production rate relative to the standard model expectation is 0.33 ± 0.26 = 0.33 ± 0.17(stat) ± 0.21(syst). Additionally, the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$production rate is determined in intervals of Higgs boson transverse momentum. An upper limit at 95% confidence level is set on the tH production rate of 14.6 times the standard model prediction, with an expectation of$$ {19.3}_{-6.0}^{+9.2} $$ ${19.3}_{-6.0}^{+9.2}$. Finally, constraints are derived on the strength and structure of the coupling between the Higgs boson and the top quark from simultaneous extraction of the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{H} $$ $t\overline{t}H$and tH production rates, and the results are combined with those obtained in other Higgs boson decay channels. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> A measurement is performed of Higgs bosons produced with high transverse momentum (p_T) via vector boson or gluon fusion in proton-proton collisions. The result is based on a data set with a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected in 2016–2018 with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. The decay of a high-p_THiggs boson to a boosted bottom quark-antiquark pair is selected using large-radius jets and employing jet substructure and heavy-flavor taggers based on machine learning techniques. Independent regions targeting the vector boson and gluon fusion mechanisms are defined based on the topology of two quark-initiated jets with large pseudorapidity separation. The signal strengths for both processes are extracted simultaneously by performing a maximum likelihood fit to data in the large-radius jet mass distribution. The observed signal strengths relative to the standard model expectation are$$ {4.9}_{-1.6}^{+1.9} $$ ${4.9}_{-1.6}^{+1.9}$and$$ {1.6}_{-1.5}^{+1.7} $$ ${1.6}_{-1.5}^{+1.7}$for the vector boson and gluon fusion mechanisms, respectively. A differential cross section measurement is also reported in the simplified template cross section framework. 

The production of $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(2S\right)$and $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(3S\right)$mesons in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) and proton-proton ( $pp$) collisions is studied in their dimuon decay channel using the CMS detector at the LHC. The $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(3S\right)$meson is observed for the first time in Pb-Pb collisions, with a significance above 5 standard deviations. The ratios of yields measured in Pb-Pb and $pp$collisions are reported for both the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(2S\right)$and $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(3S\right)$mesons, as functions of transverse momentum and Pb-Pb collision centrality. These ratios, when appropriately scaled, are significantly less than unity, indicating a suppression of $\mathrm{\Upsilon }$yields in Pb-Pb collisions. This suppression increases from peripheral to central Pb-Pb collisions. Furthermore, the suppression is stronger for $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(3S\right)$mesons compared to $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(2S\right)$mesons, extending the pattern of sequential suppression of quarkonium states in nuclear collisions previously seen for the $J/\psi$, $\psi \left(2S\right)$, $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(1S\right)$, and $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(2S\right)$mesons. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN