The production of a Z boson, decaying into two leptons and produced in association with one or more b jets, is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data were recorded in 2011 with the CMS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. The Z(ll) + b-jets cross sections (where ll = mu mu or ee) are measured separately for a Z boson produced with exactly one b jet and with at least two b jets. In addition, a cross section ratio is extracted for a Z boson produced with at least one b jet, relative to a Z boson produced with at least one jet. The measured cross sections are compared to various theoretical predictions, and the data favour the predictions in the five-flavour scheme, where b quarks are assumed massless. The kinematic properties of the reconstructed particles are compared with the predictions from the MADGRAPH event generator using the PYTHIA parton shower simulation.
The cross section for the production of Z gamma in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV is measured based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns. Events with an oppositely-charged pair of muons or electrons together with an isolated photon are selected. The differential cross section as a function of the photon transverse momentum is measured inclusively and exclusively, where the exclusive selection applies a veto on central jets. The observed cross sections are compatible with the expectations of next-to-next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamics. Limits on anomalous triple gauge couplings of Z Z gamma and Z gamma gamma are set that improve on previous experimental results obtained with the charged lepton decay modes of the Z boson.
Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp to (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) to l+l-l'+l'-, where l, l' = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 14.6 +1.9/-1.8 (stat) +0.5/-0.3 (syst) +/- 0.2 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, is measured for events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 < m[l+l-], m[l'+l'-] < 120 GeV. The Z boson branching fraction to four leptons is measured to be B(Z to l+l-l'+l'-) = 4.9 +0.8/-0.7 (stat) +0.3/-0.2 (syst) +0.2/-0.1 (theo) +/- 0.1 (lumi) x E-6 for the four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 < m[l+l-l'+l'-] < 100 GeV and dilepton mass m[l+l-] > 4 GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results are in agreement with standard model predictions.
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