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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. 

An analysis is presented based on models of the intrinsic transverse momentum (intrinsic $k_{\mathrm{T}}$) of partons in nucleons by studying the dilepton transverse momentum in Drell-Yan events. Using parameter tuning in event generators and existing data from fixed-target experiments and from hadron colliders, our investigation spans 3 orders of magnitude in center-of-mass energy and 2 orders of magnitude in dilepton invariant mass. The results show an energy-scaling behavior of the intrinsic $k_{\mathrm{T}}$parameters, independent of the dilepton invariant mass at a given center-of-mass energy. 

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. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> A measurement of the top quark pair ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}} $$ $t\overline{t}$) production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC in autumn 2017, in dedicated runs with low-energy and low-intensity conditions with respect to the default configuration, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 302 pb⁻¹. The measurement is performed using events with one electron or muon, and multiple jets, at least one of them being identified as originating from a b quark (b tagged). Events are classified based on the number of all reconstructed jets and of b-tagged jets. Multivariate analysis techniques are used to enhance the separation between the signal and backgrounds. The measured cross section is$$ 62.5\pm 1.6{\left(\textrm{stat}\right)}_{-2.5}^{+2.6}\left(\textrm{syst}\right)\pm 1.2\left(\textrm{lumi}\right) $$ $62.5\pm 1.6{\left(\text{stat}\right)}_{-2.5}^{+2.6}\left(\text{syst}\right)\pm 1.2\left(\text{lumi}\right)$pb. A combination with the result in the dilepton channel based on the same data set yields a value of 62.3 ± 1.5 (stat) ± 2.4 (syst) ± 1.2 (lumi) pb, to be compared with the standard model prediction of$$ {69.5}_{-3.7}^{+3.5} $$ ${69.5}_{-3.7}^{+3.5}$pb at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> A search is presented for a heavy resonance decaying into a Z boson and a Higgs (H) boson. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹, recorded with the CMS experiment in the years 2016–2018. Resonance masses between 1.4 and 5 TeV are considered, resulting in large transverse momenta of the Z and H bosons. Final states that result from Z boson decays to pairs of electrons, muons, or neutrinos are considered. The H boson is reconstructed as a single large-radius jet, recoiling against the Z boson. Machine-learning flavour-tagging techniques are employed to identify decays of a Lorentz-boosted H boson into pairs of charm or bottom quarks, or into four quarks via the intermediate H → WW^*and ZZ^*decays. The analysis targets H boson decays that were not generally included in previous searches using the H →$$ \textrm{b}\overline{\textrm{b}} $$ $b\overline{b}$channel. Compared with previous analyses, the sensitivity for high resonance masses is improved significantly in the channel where at most one b quark is tagged. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> A search is presented for the resonant production of a pair of standard model-like Higgs bosons using data from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. The final state consists of two b quark-antiquark pairs. The search is conducted in the region of phase space where at least one of the pairs is highly Lorentz-boosted and is reconstructed as a single large-area jet. The other pair may be either similarly merged or resolved, the latter reconstructed using two b-tagged jets. The data are found to be consistent with standard model processes and are interpreted as 95% confidence level upper limits on the product of the cross sections and the branching fractions of the spin-0 radion and the spin-2 bulk graviton that arise in warped extradimensional models. The limits set are in the range 9.74–0.29 fb and 4.94–0.19 fb for a narrow radion and a graviton, respectively, with masses between 1 and 3 TeV. For a radion and for a bulk graviton with widths 10% of their masses, the limits are in the range 12.5–0.35 fb and 8.23–0.23 fb, respectively, for the same masses. These limits result in the exclusion of a narrow-width graviton with a mass below 1.2 TeV, and of narrow and 10%-width radions with masses below 2.6, and 2.9 TeV, respectively. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Measurements are presented of inclusive and differential cross sections for Z boson associated production of top quark pairs ($$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{Z} $$ $t\overline{t}Z$) and single top quarks (tZq or tWZ). The data were recorded in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb⁻¹. Events with three or more leptons, electrons or muons, are selected and a multiclass deep neural network is used to separate three event categories, the$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{Z} $$ $t\overline{t}Z$and tWZ processes, the tZq process, and the backgrounds. A profile likelihood approach is used to unfold the differential cross sections, to account for systematic uncertainties, and to determine the correlations between the two signal categories in one global fit. The inclusive cross sections for a dilepton invariant mass between 70 and 110 GeV are measured to be 1.14 ± 0.07 pb for the sum of$$ \textrm{t}\overline{\textrm{t}}\textrm{Z} $$ $t\overline{t}Z$and tWZ, and 0.81 ± 0.10 pb for tZq, in good agreement with theoretical predictions.