We present a measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in rapidity and transverse momentum using a data sample of pp collision events at a centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s)=8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of muons. The measurement provides a precision test of quantum chromodynamics over a large region of phase space. In addition, due to the small experimental uncertainties in the measurement the data has the potential to constrain the gluon parton distribution function in the kinematic regime important for Higgs boson production via gluon fusion. The results agree with the next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions computed with the FEWZ program. The results are also compared to the commonly used leading-order MADGRAPH and next-to-leading-order POWHEG generators.
The double-differential cross sections of promptly produced J/psi and psi(2S) mesons are measured in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, as a function of transverse momentum pt and absolute rapidity abs(y). The analysis uses J/psi and psi(2S) dimuon samples collected by CMS, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.55 and 4.90 inverse femtobarns, respectively. The results are based on a two-dimensional analysis of the dimuon invariant mass and decay length, and extend to pt = 120 and 100 GeV for the J/psi and psi(2S), respectively, when integrated over the interval abs(y) < 1.2. The ratio of the psi(2S) to J/psi cross sections is also reported for abs(y) < 1.2, over the range 10 < pt < 100 GeV. These are the highest pt values for which the cross sections and ratio have been measured.
A measurement is presented of the production of Z bosons that decay into two electrons or muons in association with jets, in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) of the Z boson and the transverse momentum and rapidities of the five jets with largest $p_\mathrm{T}$. The jet multiplicity distribution is measured for up to eight jets. The hadronic activity in the events is estimated using the scalar sum of the $p_\mathrm{T}$ of all the jets. All measurements are unfolded to the stable particle-level and compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators, as well as with expectations at leading and next-to-leading orders in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is observed for the first time in heavy ion collisions. Data from the CMS detector are used to study the production of the $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} =$ 5.02 TeV, via the $B_\mathrm{c}^+ \to (J/\psi\to\mu^+\mu^-)\mu^+\nu_\mu$ decay. The $B_\mathrm{c}^+$ nuclear modification factor, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of production cross sections, is measured in two bins of the trimuon transverse momentum and of the PbPb collision centrality. The B$_\mathrm{c}^+$ meson is shown to be less suppressed than quarkonia and most of the open heavy-flavor mesons, suggesting that effects of the hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy ion collisions contribute to its production. This measurement sets forth a promising new probe of the interplay of suppression and enhancement mechanisms in the production of heavy-flavor mesons in the quark-gluon plasma.