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The CERN LHC provided proton and heavy ion collisions during its Run 2 operation period from 2015 to 2018. Proton-proton collisions reached a peak instantaneous luminosity of 2.1× 10³⁴cm^-2s^-1, twice the initial design value, at √(s)=13 TeV. The CMS experiment records a subset of the collisions for further processing as part of its online selection of data for physics analyses, using a two-level trigger system: the Level-1 trigger, implemented in custom-designed electronics, and the high-level trigger, a streamlined version of the offline reconstruction software running on a large computer farm. This paper presents the performance of the CMS high-level trigger system during LHC Run 2 for physics objects, such as leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum, which meet the broad needs of the CMS physics program and the challenge of the evolving LHC and detector conditions. Sophisticated algorithms that were originally used in offline reconstruction were deployed online. Highlights include a machine-learning b tagging algorithm and a reconstruction algorithm for tau leptons that decay hadronically.

Results are presented from a search for CP violation in top quark pair production, using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data used for this analysis consist of final states with two charged leptons collected by the CMS experiment, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb⁻¹. The search uses two observables,$$ \mathcal{O} $$$O$₁and$$ \mathcal{O} $$$O$₃, which are Lorentz scalars. The observable$$ \mathcal{O} $$$O$₁is constructed from the four-momenta of the charged leptons and the reconstructed top quarks, while$$ \mathcal{O} $$$O$₃consists of the four-momenta of the charged leptons and the b quarks originating from the top quarks. Asymmetries in these observables are sensitive to CP violation, and their measurement is used to determine the chromoelectric dipole moment of the top quark. The results are consistent with the expectation from the standard model.

Measurements of the associated production of a W boson and a charm ($${\text {c}}$$$\text{c}$) quark in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8$$\,\text {TeV}$$$\text{TeV}$are reported. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 19.7$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$${\text{fb}}^{-1}$collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. The W bosons are identified through their leptonic decays to an electron or a muon, and a neutrino. Charm quark jets are selected using distinctive signatures of charm hadron decays. The product of the cross section and branching fraction$$\sigma (\text {p}\text {p}\rightarrow \text {W}+ {\text {c}}+ \text {X}) {\mathcal {B}}(\text {W}\rightarrow \ell \upnu )$$$\sigma (\text{pp}\to \text{W}+\text{c}+\text{X})B(\text{W}\to \ell \nu )$, where$$\ell = \text {e}$$$\ell =\text{e}$or$$\upmu $$$\mu$, and the cross section ratio$$\sigma (\text {p}\text {p}\rightarrow {{\text {W}}^{+} + \bar{{\text {c}}} + \text {X}}) / \sigma (\text {p}\text {p}\rightarrow {{\text {W}}^{-} + {\text {c}}+ \text {X}})$$$\sigma (\text{pp}\to {\text{W}}^{+}+\overline{\text{c}}+\text{X})/\sigma (\text{pp}\to {\text{W}}^{-}+\text{c}+\text{X})$are measured in a fiducial volume and differentially as functions of the pseudorapidity and of the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W boson decay. The results are compared with theoretical predictions. The impact of these measurements on the determination of the strange quark distribution is assessed.