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Abstract This paper presents a model-agnostic search for narrow resonances in the dijet final state in the mass range 1.8–6 TeV. The signal is assumed to produce jets with substructure atypical of jets initiated by light quarks or gluons, with minimal additional assumptions. Search regions are obtained by utilizing multivariate machine-learning methods to select jets with anomalous substructure. A collection of complementary anomaly detection methods—based on unsupervised, weakly supervised, and semisupervised algorithms—are used in order to maximize the sensitivity to unknown new physics signatures. These algorithms are applied to data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant excesses above background expectations are seen. Exclusion limits are derived on the production cross section of benchmark signal models varying in resonance mass, jet mass, and jet substructure. Many of these signatures have not been previously sought, making several of the limits reported on the corresponding benchmark models the first ever. When compared to benchmark inclusive and substructure-based search strategies, the anomaly detection methods are found to significantly enhance the sensitivity to a variety of models. 

Abstract Ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions create a strongly interacting state of hot and dense quark–gluon matter that exhibits a remarkable collective flow behavior with minimal viscous dissipation. To gain deeper insights into its intrinsic nature and fundamental degrees of freedom, we determine the speed of sound in an extended volume of quark–gluon plasma using lead–lead (PbPb) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 0.607 nb⁻¹. The measurement is performed by studying the multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum of charged particles emitted in head-on PbPb collisions. Our findings reveal that the speed of sound in this matter is nearly half the speed of light, with a squared value of $0.241\pm 0.002\left(\text{stat}\right)\pm 0.016\left(\text{syst}\right)$in natural units. The effective medium temperature, estimated using the mean transverse momentum, is $219\pm 8\left(\text{syst}\right)\text{MeV}$. The measured squared speed of sound at this temperature aligns precisely with predictions from lattice quantum chromodynamic (QCD) calculations. This result provides a stringent constraint on the equation of state of the created medium and direct evidence for a deconfined QCD phase being attained in relativistic nuclear collisions.