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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 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.

The first observation of the concurrent production of two$J/\psi$mesons in proton-nucleus collisions is presented. The analysis is based on a proton-lead ($p\mathrm{Pb}$) data sample recorded at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of$174.6{\mathrm{nb}}^{-1}$. The two$J/\psi$mesons are reconstructed in their${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$decay channels with transverse momenta$p_{\mathrm{T}}>6.5\mathrm{GeV}$and rapidity$|y|<2.4$. Events where one of the$J/\psi$mesons is reconstructed in the dielectron channel are also considered in the search. The$p\mathrm{Pb}\to J/\psi J/\psi +X$process is observed with a significance of 5.3 standard deviations. The measured inclusive fiducial cross section, using the four-muon channel alone, is$\sigma (p\mathrm{Pb}\to J/\psi J/\psi +X)=22.0\pm 8.9(\mathrm{stat})\pm 1.5(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{nb}$. A fit of the data to the expected rapidity separation for pairs of$J/\psi$mesons produced in single (SPS) and double (DPS) parton scatterings yields${\sigma }_{\mathrm{SPS}}^{p\mathrm{Pb}\to J/\psi J/\psi +X}=16.5\pm 10.8(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.1(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{nb}$and${\sigma }_{\mathrm{DPS}}^{p\mathrm{Pb}\to J/\psi J/\psi +X}=5.4\pm 6.2(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.4(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{nb}$, respectively. This latter result can be transformed into a lower bound on the effective DPS cross section, closely related to the squared average interparton transverse separation in the collision, of${\sigma }_{\mathrm{eff}}>1.0\mathrm{mb}$at 95% confidence level.

The first search for soft unclustered energy patterns (SUEPs) is performed using an integrated luminosity of$138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collision data at$\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$, collected in 2016–2018 by the CMS detector at the LHC. Such SUEPs are predicted by hidden valley models with a new, confining force with a large ’t Hooft coupling. In events with boosted topologies, selected by high-threshold hadronic triggers, the multiplicity and sphericity of clustered tracks are used to reject the background from standard model quantum chromodynamics. With no observed excess of events over the standard model expectation, limits are set on the cross section for production via gluon fusion of a scalar mediator with SUEP-like decays.

Diboson production in association with jets is studied in the fully leptonic final states, pp → (Z/γ^*)(Z/γ^*) + jets → 2ℓ2ℓ′ + jets, (ℓ,ℓ′ = e orμ) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Differential distributions and normalized differential cross sections are measured as a function of jet multiplicity, transverse momentump_T, pseudorapidityη, invariant mass and ∆ηof the highest-p_Tand second-highest-p_Tjets, and as a function of invariant mass of the four-lepton system for events with various jet multiplicities. These differential cross sections are compared with theoretical predictions that mostly agree with the experimental data. However, in a few regions we observe discrepancies between the predicted and measured values. Further improvement of the predictions is required to describe the ZZ+jets production in the whole phase space.

A search for Higgs boson pair (HH) production in association with a vector boson V (W or Z boson) is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. Both hadronic and leptonic decays of V bosons are used. The leptons considered are electrons, muons, and neutrinos. The HH production is searched for in the$$ \textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}}\textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}} $$$b\overline{b}b\overline{b}$decay channel. An observed (expected) upper limit at 95% confidence level of VHH production cross section is set at 294 (124) times the standard model prediction. Constraints are also set on the modifiers of the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling,k_λ, assumingk_2V= 1, and vice versa on the coupling of two Higgs bosons with two vector bosons,k_2V. The observed (expected) 95% confidence intervals of these coupling modifiers are−37.7 <k_λ< 37.2 (−30.1 <k_λ< 28.9) and−12.2 <k_2V< 13.5 (−7.2 <k_2V< 8.9), respectively.

The first search for the$Z$boson decay to$\tau \tau \mu \mu$at the CERN LHC is presented, based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of$138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. The data are compatible with the predicted background. For the first time, an upper limit at the 95% confidence level of 6.9 times the standard model expectation is placed on the ratio of the$Z\to \tau \tau \mu \mu$to$Z\to 4\mu$branching fractions. Limits are also placed on the six flavor-conserving four-lepton effective-field-theory operators involving two muons and two tau leptons, for the first time testing all such operators.