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  1. Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 1, 2026
  2. Incoherent J / ψ photoproduction in heavy ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) provides a sensitive probe of localized, fluctuating gluonic structures within heavy nuclei. This Letter reports the first measurement of the photon-nucleon center-of-mass energy ( W γ N ) dependence of this process in PbPb UPCs at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV, using 1.52 nb 1 of data recorded by the CMS experiment. The measurement covers a wide W γ N range of 40 400 GeV , probing gluons carrying a fraction x of nucleon momentum down to an unexplored regime of 6.5 × 10 5 . Compared to baseline predictions neglecting nuclear effects, the measured cross sections exhibit significantly greater suppression at lower x . Additionally, the ratio of incoherent to coherent photoproduction is found to be constant across the probed W γ N and x range, disfavoring the establishment of the black disk limit. This Letter provides critical insights into the x -dependent evolution of fluctuating gluonic structures within nuclei and calls for further advancements in theoretical models incorporating nuclear shadowing and gluon saturation. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 1, 2026
  3. The first search for a heavy neutral spin-1 gauge boson ( Z ) with nonuniversal fermion couplings produced via vector boson fusion processes and decaying to tau leptons or W bosons is presented. The analysis is performed using LHC data at s = 13 TeV , collected from 2016 to 2018 with the CMS experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 . The data are consistent with the standard model predictions. Upper limits are set on the product of the cross section for production of the Z boson and its branching fraction to τ τ or W W . The presence of a Z boson decaying to τ + τ ( W + W ) is excluded for masses up to 2.45(1.60) TeV, depending on the Z boson coupling to standard model weak bosons, and assuming a Z τ + τ ( W + W ) branching fraction of 50%. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 1, 2026
  4. Free, publicly-accessible full text available July 1, 2026
  5. A<sc>bstract</sc> The jet axis decorrelation in inclusive jets is studied using lead-lead (PbPb) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV. The jet axis decorrelation is defined as the angular difference between two definitions of the jet axis. It is obtained by applying two recombination schemes on all the constituents of a given jet reconstructed by the anti-kTsequential algorithm with a distance parameter ofR= 0.4. The data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.66 nb−1, was collected in 2018 with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The jet axis decorrelations are examined across collision centrality selections and intervals of jet transverse momentum. A centrality dependent evolution of the measured distributions is observed, with a progressive narrowing seen in more central events. This narrowing could result from medium-induced modification of the internal jet structure or reflect color charge effects in energy loss. This new measurement probes jet substructure in previously unexplored kinematic domains and show great promise for providing new insights on the color charge dependence of energy loss to jet-quenching models. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available June 1, 2026
  6. Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 1, 2026
  7. Abstract The TOTEM Roman pot detectors are used to reconstruct the transverse momentum of scattered protons and to estimate the transverse location of the primary interaction. This paper presents new methods of track reconstruction, measurements of strip-level detection efficiencies, cross-checks of the LHC beam optics, and detector alignment techniques, along with their application in the selection of signal collision events. The track reconstruction is performed by exploiting hit cluster information through a novel method using a common polygonal area in the intercept-slope plane. The technique is applied in the relative alignment of detector layers with μm precision. A tag-and-probe method is used to extract strip-level detection efficiencies. The alignment of the Roman pot system is performed through time-dependent adjustments, resulting in a position accuracy of 3 μm in the horizontal and 60 μm in the vertical directions. The goal is to provide an optimal reconstruction tool for central exclusive physics analyses based on the high-β* data-taking period at √(s) = 13 TeV in 2018. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  8. A<sc>bstract</sc> The inclusive WZ production cross section is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV, using data collected during 2022 with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34.7 fb−1. The measurement uses multileptonic final states and a simultaneous likelihood fit to the number of events in four different lepton flavour categories: eee, eeμ,μμe, andμμμ. The selection is optimized to minimize the number of background events, and relies on an efficient prompt lepton discrimination strategy. The WZ production cross section is measured in a phase space defined within a 30 GeV window around the Z boson mass, asσtotal(pp → WZ) = 55.2 ± 1.2 (stat) ± 1.2 (syst) ± 0.8 (lumi) ± 0.3 (theo) pb. In addition, the cross section is measured in a fiducial phase space closer to the detector-level requirements. All the measurements presented in this paper are in agreement with standard model predictions. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  9. Abstract “Soft” muons with a transverse momentum below 10 GeV are featured in many processes studied by the CMS experiment, such as decays of heavy-flavor hadrons or rare tau lepton decays. Maximizing the selection efficiency for these muons, while simultaneously suppressing backgrounds from long-lived light-flavor hadron decays, is therefore important for the success of the CMS physics program. Multivariate techniques have been shown to deliver better muon identification performance than traditional selection techniques. To take full advantage of the large data set currently being collected during Run 3 of the CERN LHC, a new multivariate classifier based on a gradient-boosted decision tree has been developed. It offers a significantly improved separation of signal and background muons compared to a similar classifier used for the analysis of the Run 2 data. The performance of the new classifier is evaluated on a data set collected with the CMS detector in 2022 and 2023, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62 fb-1
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  10. Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026