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  1. Abstract

    The red hypergiant VY CMa is famous for its very visible record of high-mass-loss events. Recent CO observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) revealed three previously unknown large-scale outflows (Singh et al). In this paper, we use the CO maps to investigate the motions of a cluster of four clumps close to the star, not visible in the optical or infrared images. We present their proper motions measured from two epochs of ALMA images and determine the line-of-sight velocities of the gas in emission at the clumps. We estimate their masses and ages, or time since ejection, and conclude that all four were ejected during VY CMa’s active period in the early 20th century. Together with two additional knots observed with the Hubble Space Telescope, VY CMa experienced at least six massive outflows during a 30 yr period, with a total mass lost ≥0.07M. The position–velocity map of the12CO emission reveals previously unnoticed attributes of the older outer ejecta. In a very narrow range of Doppler velocities,12CO absorption and emission causes some of this outer material to be quite opaque. At those frequencies the inner structure is hidden and we see only emission from an extended outer region. This fact produces a conspicuous but illusory dark spot if one attempts to subtract the continuum in a normal way.

     
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  2. Abstract

    TheJ= 2 → 1 transition of CO near 230 GHz and theJ= 3 → 2 line of HCN at 265 GHz have been imaged in the envelope of the red hypergiant star, VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa), using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) with angular resolutions 0.″2–1.″5; single-dish data were added to provide sensitivity up to 30″. These images reveal a far more complex envelope, with previously unseen outflows extending 4″–9″ from the star. These new structures include an arc-like outflow with an angular separation of ∼9″ northeast from the stellar position (“NE Arc”), twin fingerlike features approximately 4″ to the north/northeast (“NE Extension”), and a roughly spherical region observed ∼7″ E of the star (“E Bubble”). The NE Arc appears to be decelerating from base (VLSR∼ 7 km s−1) to tip (VLSR∼ 18 km s−1), while the NE Extension is blueshifted withVLSR∼ −7 km s−1. Among the new features, HCN is only detected in the NE Arc. In addition, known structures Arc 1, Arc 2, and NW Arc, as well as other features closer to the star, are closely replicated in CO, suggesting that the gas and dust are well mixed. The CO spectra are consistent with the kinematic picture of VY CMa derived from HST data. Arc 2, however, has added complexity. Preliminary results from CO suggest12C/13C ∼ 22–38 across the envelope. The additional presence of at least three major episodic mass ejection events significantly broadens the current perspective of the envelope structure and mass-loss history of VY CMa.

     
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  3. ABSTRACT

    We report the first detection of circumstellar CO in a globular cluster. Observations with ALMA have detected the CO J = 3–2 and SiO v = 1 J = 8 − 7 transitions at 345 and 344 GHz, respectively, around V3 in 47 Tucanae (NGC 104; [Fe/H]  = –0.72 dex), a star on the asymptotic giant branch. The CO line is detected at 7σ at a rest velocity vLSR  = –40.6 km s−1 and expansion velocity of 3.2 ± ∼0.4 km s−1. The brighter, asymmetric SiO line may indicate a circumstellar maser. The stellar wind is slow compared to similar Galactic stars, but the dust opacity remains similar to Galactic comparisons. We suggest that the mass-loss rate is set by the levitation of material into the circumstellar environment by pulsations, but that the terminal wind-expansion velocity is determined by radiation pressure on the dust: a pulsation-enhanced dust-driven wind. We suggest the metal-poor nature of the star decreases the grain size, slowing the wind and increasing its density and opacity. Metallic alloys at high altitudes above the photosphere could also provide an opacity increase. The CO line is weaker than expected from Galactic AGB stars, but its strength confirms a model that includes CO dissociation by the strong interstellar radiation field present inside globular clusters.

     
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  4. Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 1, 2026
  5. Abstract

    Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, will increase dramatically in the next decades. To complement the future performance increases of software running on central processing units (CPUs), explorations of coprocessor usage in data processing hold great potential and interest. Coprocessors are a class of computer processors that supplement CPUs, often improving the execution of certain functions due to architectural design choices. We explore the approach of Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC) and study the deployment of this as-a-service approach in large-scale data processing. In the studies, we take a data processing workflow of the CMS experiment and run the main workflow on CPUs, while offloading several machine learning (ML) inference tasks onto either remote or local coprocessors, specifically graphics processing units (GPUs). With experiments performed at Google Cloud, the Purdue Tier-2 computing center, and combinations of the two, we demonstrate the acceleration of these ML algorithms individually on coprocessors and the corresponding throughput improvement for the entire workflow. This approach can be easily generalized to different types of coprocessors and deployed on local CPUs without decreasing the throughput performance. We emphasize that the SONIC approach enables high coprocessor usage and enables the portability to run workflows on different types of coprocessors.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  6. A<sc>bstract</sc>

    A measurement is performed of Higgs bosons produced with high transverse momentum (pT) 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 fb1. The decay of a high-pTHiggs 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$$ {4.9}_{-1.6}^{+1.9} $$4.91.6+1.9and$$ {1.6}_{-1.5}^{+1.7} $$1.61.5+1.7for the vector boson and gluon fusion mechanisms, respectively. A differential cross section measurement is also reported in the simplified template cross section framework.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  7. Abstract

    This paper describes theCombinesoftware package used for statistical analyses by the CMS Collaboration. The package, originally designed to perform searches for a Higgs boson and the combined analysis of those searches, has evolved to become the statistical analysis tool presently used in the majority of measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration. It is not specific to the CMS experiment, and this paper is intended to serve as a reference for users outside of the CMS Collaboration, providing an outline of the most salient features and capabilities. Readers are provided with the possibility to runCombineand reproduce examples provided in this paper using a publicly available container image. Since the package is constantly evolving to meet the demands of ever-increasing data sets and analysis sophistication, this paper cannot cover all details ofCombine. However, the online documentation referenced within this paper provides an up-to-date and complete user guide.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  8. Abstract

    A search is reported for charge-parity$$CP$$CPviolation in$${{{\textrm{D}}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} $$D0KS0KS0decays, using data collected in proton–proton collisions at$$\sqrt{s} = 13\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V} $$s=13TeVrecorded by the CMS experiment in 2018. The analysis uses a dedicated data set that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 41.6$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$fb-1, which consists of about 10 billion events containing a pair of b hadrons, nearly all of which decay to charm hadrons. The flavor of the neutral D meson is determined by the pion charge in the reconstructed decays$${{{\textrm{D}}}^{{*+}}} \rightarrow {{{\textrm{D}}}^{{0}}} {{{\mathrm{\uppi }}}^{{+}}} $$D+D0π+and$${{{\textrm{D}}}^{{*-}}} \rightarrow {\overline{{\textrm{D}}}^{{0}}} {{{\mathrm{\uppi }}}^{{-}}} $$D-D¯0π-. The$$CP$$CPasymmetry in$${{{\textrm{D}}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} $$D0KS0KS0is measured to be$$A_{CP} ({{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} ) = (6.2 \pm 3.0 \pm 0.2 \pm 0.8)\%$$ACP(KS0KS0)=(6.2±3.0±0.2±0.8)%, where the three uncertainties represent the statistical uncertainty, the systematic uncertainty, and the uncertainty in the measurement of the$$CP$$CPasymmetry in the$${{{\textrm{D}}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\textrm{K}} _{\text {S}}^{{0}}} {{{\mathrm{\uppi }}}^{{+}}} {{{\mathrm{\uppi }}}^{{-}}} $$D0KS0π+π-decay. This is the first$$CP$$CPasymmetry measurement by CMS in the charm sector as well as the first to utilize a fully hadronic final state.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  9. Abstract

    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.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2025