A study of proton-proton collisions in which two b hadrons are produced in association with a Z boson is reported. The collisions were recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 5.2 inverse femtobarns. The b hadrons are identified by means of displaced secondary vertices, without the use of reconstructed jets, permitting the study of b-hadron pair production at small angular separation. Differential cross sections are presented as a function of the angular separation of the b hadrons and the Z boson. In addition, inclusive measurements are presented. For both the inclusive and differential studies, different ranges of Z boson momentum are considered, and each measurement is compared to the predictions from different event generators at leading-order and next-to-leading-order accuracy.
Measurements of $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV are used to extract limits on anomalous triple gauge couplings. The results are based on data recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC that correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarns. The cross sections are measured for photon transverse momenta $p_T^{\gamma} \gt$ 15 GeV, and for separations between photons and final-state charged leptons in the pseudorapidity-azimuthal plane of $\Delta R(l, \gamma) \gt$ 0.7 in $l \nu \gamma$ and $ll \gamma$ final states, where l refers either to an electron or a muon. A dilepton invariant mass requirement of $m_{ll} \gt$ 50 GeV is imposed for the Z$\gamma$ process. No deviations are observed relative to predictions from the standard model, and limits are set on anomalous WW$\gamma$, ZZ$\gamma$, and Z$\gamma\gamma$ triple gauge couplings.
Measurements of the five most significant angular coefficients, A[0] through A[4], for Z bosons produced in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV and decaying to $\mu^+ \mu^-$ are presented as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of Z boson. The integrated luminosity of the dataset collected with the CMS detector at the LHC corresponds to 19.7 inverse femtobarns. These measurements provide comprehensive information about Z boson production mechanisms, and are compared to QCD predictions at leading order, next-to-leading order, and next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbation theory.
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 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.
Measurements of the ZZ production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV are presented. Candidate events for the leptonic decay mode ZZ to 2 l 2 nu, where l denotes an electron or a muon, are reconstructed and selected from data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.1 (19.6) inverse femtobarns at 7 (8) TeV collected with the CMS experiment. The measured cross sections, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 5.1 -1.4 +1.5 (stat) -1.1 +1.4 (syst) +/- 0.1 (lumi) pb at 7 TeV, and 7.2 -0.8 +0.8 (stat.) -1.5 +1.9 (syst) +/- 0.2 (lumi) pb at 8 TeV, are in good agreement with the standard model predictions with next-to-leading-order accuracy. The selected data are analyzed to search for anomalous triple gauge couplings involving the ZZ final state. In the absence of any deviation from the standard model predictions, limits are set on the relevant parameters. These limits are then combined with the previously published CMS results for ZZ in 4 l final states, yielding the most stringent constraints on the anomalous couplings.
A measurement of the Z gamma to nu nu-bar gamma production cross section in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV is presented, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. This measurement is based on the observation of events with large missing energy and with a single photon with transverse momentum above 145 GeV and absolute pseudorapidity in the range |eta| < 1.44. The measured Z gamma to nu nu-bar gamma production cross section, 52.7 +/- 2.1(stat) +/- 6.4 (syst) +/- 1.4 (lumi) fb, agrees well with the standard model prediction of 50.0 +2.4 -2.2 fb. A study of the photon transverse momentum spectrum yields the most stringent limits to date on the anomalous Z-Z-gamma and Z-gamma-gamma trilinear gauge boson couplings.