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Creators/Authors contains: "Vargas_Hernandez, A M"

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  1. A measurement of the Higgs boson mass and width via its decay to two Z bosons is presented. Proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, is used. The invariant mass distribution of four leptons in the on-shell Higgs boson decay is used to measure its mass and constrain its width. This yields the most precise single measurement of the Higgs boson mass to date, 125.04 ± 0.12 GeV , and an upper limit on the width Γ H < 330 MeV at 95% confidence level. A combination of the on- and off-shell Higgs boson production decaying to four leptons is used to determine the Higgs boson width, assuming that no new virtual particles affect the production, a premise that is tested by adding new heavy particles in the gluon fusion loop model. This result is combined with a previous CMS analysis of the off-shell Higgs boson production with decay to two leptons and two neutrinos, giving a measured Higgs boson width of 3.0 1.5 + 2.0 MeV , in agreement with the standard model prediction of 4.1 MeV. The strength of the off-shell Higgs boson production is also reported. The scenario of no off-shell Higgs boson production is excluded at a confidence level corresponding to 3.8 standard deviations. © 2025 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2025CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 1, 2026
  2. Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  3. Nuclear medium effects on B + meson production are studied using the binary-collision scaled cross section ratio between events of different charged-particle multiplicities from proton-lead collisions. Data, collected by the CMS experiment in 2016 at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of s NN = 8.16 TeV , corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 175 nb 1 , were used. The scaling factors in the ratio are determined using a novel approach based on the Z μ μ + cross sections measured in the same events. The scaled ratio for B + is consistent with unity for all event multiplicities, putting stringent constraints on nuclear modification for heavy flavor. © 2025 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2025CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026
  4. A<sc>bstract</sc> The production cross sections of$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 and B+mesons are reported in proton-proton (pp) collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 302 pb−1. The cross sections are based on measurements of the$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 →J/ψ(μ+μ)ϕ(1020)(K+K) and B+→J/ψ(μ+μ)K+decay channels. Results are presented in the transverse momentum (pT) range 7–50 GeV/cand the rapidity interval |y|<2.4 for the B mesons. The measuredpT-differential cross sections of B+and$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 in pp collisions are well described by fixed-order plus next-to-leading logarithm perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations. Using previous PbPb collision measurements at the same nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy, the nuclear modification factors,RAA, of the B mesons are determined. ForpT>10 GeV/c, both mesons are found to be suppressed in PbPb collisions (withRAAvalues significantly below unity), with less suppression observed for the$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 mesons. In thispTrange, theRAAvalues for the B+mesons are consistent with those for inclusive charged hadrons and D0mesons. Below 10 GeV/c, both B+and$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 are found to be less suppressed than either inclusive charged hadrons or D0mesons, with the$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 RAAvalue consistent with unity. TheRAAvalues found for the B+and$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 are compared to theoretical calculations, providing constraints on the mechanism of bottom quark energy loss and hadronization in the quark-gluon plasma, the hot and dense matter created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available February 1, 2026
  5. A search is presented for an extended Higgs sector with two new particles, X and ϕ , in the process X ϕ ϕ ( γ γ ) ( γ γ ) . Novel neural networks classify events with diphotons that are merged and determine the diphoton masses. The search uses LHC proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 . No evidence of such resonances is seen. Upper limits are set on the production cross section for m X between 300 and 3000 GeV and m ϕ / m X between 0.5% and 2.5%, representing the most sensitive search in this channel. © 2025 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2025CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 1, 2026
  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 fb−1. 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$$ {4.9}_{-1.6}^{+1.9} $$ 4.9 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. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2025
  7. The first search for soft unclustered energy patterns (SUEPs) is performed using an integrated luminosity of 138 fb 1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 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. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2025
  8. Searches for pair-produced multijet signatures using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 128 fb 1 of proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV are presented. A data scouting technique is employed to record events with low jet scalar transverse momentum sum values. The electroweak production of particles predicted in R -parity violating supersymmetric models is probed for the first time with fully hadronic final states. This is the first search for prompt hadronically decaying mass-degenerate higgsinos, and extends current exclusions on R -parity violating top squarks and gluinos. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2025
  9. The first observation of the concurrent production of two J / ψ mesons in proton-nucleus collisions is presented. The analysis is based on a proton-lead ( p 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 nb 1 . The two J / ψ mesons are reconstructed in their μ + μ decay channels with transverse momenta p T > 6.5 GeV and rapidity | y | < 2.4 . Events where one of the J / ψ mesons is reconstructed in the dielectron channel are also considered in the search. The p Pb J / ψ J / ψ + 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 σ ( p Pb J / ψ J / ψ + X ) = 22.0 ± 8.9 ( stat ) ± 1.5 ( syst ) nb . A fit of the data to the expected rapidity separation for pairs of J / ψ mesons produced in single (SPS) and double (DPS) parton scatterings yields σ SPS p Pb J / ψ J / ψ + X = 16.5 ± 10.8 ( stat ) ± 0.1 ( syst ) nb and σ DPS p Pb J / ψ J / ψ + X = 5.4 ± 6.2 ( stat ) ± 0.4 ( syst ) 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 σ eff > 1.0 mb at 95% confidence level. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2025
  10. A<sc>bstract</sc> The effective lifetime of the$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 meson in the decay$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0\to \textrm{J}/{\uppsi \textrm{K}}_{\textrm{S}}^0 $$ B s 0 J / ψK S 0 is measured using data collected during 2016–2018 with the CMS detector in$$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The effective lifetime is determined by performing a two-dimensional unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the$$ {\textrm{B}}_{\textrm{s}}^0 $$ B s 0 meson invariant mass and proper decay time distributions. The resulting value of 1.59 ± 0.07(stat) ± 0.03(syst) ps is the most precise measurement to date and is in good agreement with the expected value. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available October 1, 2025